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A PASTOR'S LEGACY 



THOSE FOR WHOSE BENEFIT HE HAS 
SPENT HIS LIFE, 

OR 

A FINAL APPEAL 

TO 

THE CARELESS, THE INQUIRING AND 
THE BELIEVING 

IN 

KELATION TO LIFE AND USEFULNESS. 

BY / 

EEY. ANTHONY ^ATWOOD. 

AUTHOR OP "A MANUAL ON BAPTISM," "THE YOUNG MAN'S 
"WAY TO HONOR," &c. 



Awake thou that sleepest 

It is high time to awake out of sleep. — St.' PauIi. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
PEEKINPINE & HIGGINS, 

FOR THE AUTHOR. 

No. 56 North Fourth Street. 

1866. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 

Rev. ANTHONY ATWOOD, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY WESTCOTT 4 THOMSON. 



I & ° t 




PREFACE 



This book lias been prepared and published 
with the single purpose of doing good. Having 
been a pastor more than forty years, and feeling 
the close of my public labors to be drawing near, 
I felt it in some sense to be a duty, to write a few 
pages, that might preach to those for whose ben- 
efit and spiritual good I had spent my whole life ; 
after my lips were utterly silent. 

There are but few books treating on the sub- 
jects herein discussed, sufficiently cheap to war- 
rant a circulation among the masses. Large and 
costly books are out of the reach of the many. 
Nor will men in these days read any religious 
book long, at any one time. All men seem to be 
in a hurry. "Baxter's Call" and u Alleine's 
Alarm" are small, cheap, and sufficiently direct 
and pointed, but somewhat antiquated and un- 
suited to modern taste. 

Wesley's Sermons and Letters are strong, di- 
rect and pungent. No vice is passed over unre- 
proved, no class in society neglected. They 
formed the major portion of the libraries of the 



4 PKEFACE. 

generation of Methodists that has just passed 
away ; but few however read them now. The 
great awakening and revival doctrines, such as a 
deep sense of sin, hearty repentance, immediate 
faith in Christ, and the joyful sense of pardon by 
the witness of the Holy Spirit, common to the 
last generation, I have feared would cease to be 
dwelt upon among our people ; they are therefore 
urged and made prominent in this work. 

Books of modern date, like most modern 
preaching, are too diffuse to arouse the soul. 
Nathan said to David, "Thou art the man;" 
and the effect was instantaneous ; his conscience 
smote him, and he penitently confessed his sin. 
A more diffuse and ornate style of reproof would 
most likely have failed to produce the result. 
We live in an age when public sentiment tolerates 
many vices. A large class of men in com- 
munity live entirely without Grod, and almost 
without religious opinions or sentiments. They 
attend no church, do not read the Bible, and keep 
no Sabbaths. 

Thousands of youth crowd our cities, who, as 
soon as the day's work is finished, seek places of 
amusement, drinking saloons, or lounge about 
the corners of the streets. Many of these can 
truly say, no man careth for my soul. The re- 
ligious youth of the times, seem to be afraid to 
speak to such in relation to their souls, or even 



PREFACE. 5 

to invite them to church to hear the word of 
God. 

What is to be done ? The churches are kept 
up, and moderately attended. Each man seems 
to be satisfied with what he is doing for the refor- 
mation of those about him. 

Yet the multitudes rush on in the broad way. 

It seems to me that if earnest men would write 
and circulate small books on vital Godliness, in a 
plain sententious style, they would do good. 
Each has his circle, and each his manner of writ- 
ing. We cannot do too much in that direction ; 
at least this little work is the result of my own 
convictions on this subject. 

It is my humble contribution to forward this 
end. 

Many years since, the author wrote a small 
work for the benefit of young men. Its great 
success indicated what could be done for the good 
of inexperienced persons. By its perusal many 
were saved from vice and brought to the Saviour, 
and some were led into the ministry. May the 
good Lord make this work as useful. 

I have addressed myself to each class in 

community, so that no one is neglected. Being 

by nature ardent, and feeling strongly, I have 

spoken in the same way, and rarely have I used 

the third person. As all good men should be, I 

have on the vices of the day been severe, but I 
1 * ' 



6 PREFACE. 

trust, kind. Some will think that I have been 
too urgent and said too much on the awakened 
state of the conscience which precedes genuine 
conversion ; but experience and observation have 
long since convinced me, that deep, earnest piety 
and usefulness can only flow from such a religious 
beginning. 

To the critically inclined there may appear a 
little repetition of thought, but this, without 
weakening my sentences I could scarcely avoid ; 
for this reason likewise, are proof-texts of Scrip- 
ture sometimes repeated. 

Looking only to usefulness and the rewards of 
the future, I neither court nor fear criticism. 
The work has generally been written while most 
men have been slumbering, and while crowded 
with the toils of an exhaustive pastorate. Espe- 
cially for those who feel but little interest in the 
salvation of souls, I have no doubt furnished 
abundant license for criticism. But as it may be 
my last opportunity of addressing some for whom 
Christ died, I have tried to be faithful to them, 
and have therefore disregarded the opinions of 
the captious fault-finder. The issue is with God, 
the Judge of all men. To Him and his gracious 
influences is the work committed, hopeful of its 
usefulness, prayerful for its success. 

THE AUTHOR. 

Philada., Pa., Oct., 12, 1865. 



CONTENTS 



A PASTOR'S LEGACY TO HIS PEOPLE. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

AN APPEAL TO NEGLECTERS OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

The Gospel is God's Means op Saying Men 11 

Attendance on public worship.... 17 

To the young 19 

No taste 24 

Hanging about shops 29 

Liquor dealers are murderers 33 

What is the purpose of life? 42 

Shall your life be a failure? 44 

To heads of families 46 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Thoughtlessness 52 

Religious heroism 57 

Do you hope in false and infidel notions ? 61 

God is Just 62 

CHAPTER II. 

All Men are Called 67 

Rollin and Davy 70 

Drawings of the Father 71 

The Holy Spirit 75 

All are at first Orthodox 77 

Your condition must be seen and felt 85 

Christ alone saves 87 

You now say, "What must I do?" 94 

Do you see and feel your danger ? 95 

Make God your portion 110 

Confess your purpose openly 113 

Repent heartily of all sin 118 

Pray in your family 121 

Believe in Christ 123 

Act quickly 126 



CONTENTS. 9 

PAGE 

Avow your faith and change 127 

Watch and pray for a higher life 132 

CHAPTER III. 

To the Members of the Church of Christ.... 141 

Social labors in the Church 145 

Class meetings 153 

Personal effort 168 

Holiness, the great need of the Church 173 

Conclusion 203 



A PASTOR'S LEGACY. 



CHAPTER L 

AN APPEAL TO NEGLECTERS OF PUBLIC 
WORSHIP — THE GOSPEL IS GOD'S MEANS 
OF SAVING. 

" The pulpit therefore, (and I name it, fill'd 

"With solemn awe, that bids me well beware 

With what intent I touch that holy thing.) 

The pulpit (when the satirist has at last, 

Strutting and vaporing in an empty school, 

Spent all his force, and made no proselyte) 

I say the pulpit (in the sober use 

Of its legitimate and peculiar powers) 

Must stand acknowledged while the world shall stand, 

The most important and effectual guard, 

Support, and ornament of virtue's cause." 

God hath ordained that the preaching 
of the gospel shall be the effectual means 
of salvation to all them that believe. 

Our Lord declared this in the commission 

11 



12 A pastor's legacy. 

he gave to his immediate followers, prior 
to his ascension. "And he said unto them, 
Go ye into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature. He that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that 
believeth not shall be damned." 

Another evangelist gives the command 
in language similar. "And Jesus came 
and spake unto them saying, 'All power is 
given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go 
ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching 
them to observe all things, whatsoever I 
have commanded you ; and lo I am with 
you alway, even unto the end of the world. 
Amen!'" 

Here commenced the great movement 
that has nearly covered the face of the 
earth. It may seem strange that the refor- 
mation of the world, the destruction of all 
its giant vices, that had defied the power 
of civil law, should follow, and it should 
be dependent, on the simple preaching of 



POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 13 

Christ and him crucified. But it is never- 
theless a fact. " It is the power of God 
unto salvation to every one that believeth." 
" It is a savor of life," and has not failed 
to awaken every slumbering community 
into which it has fairly been introduced. 
As a reforming system it has no equal. It 
brings down the proud; humbling them 
into the dust, and raises up the lowly, put- 
ting them among princes. Men talk of 
the light of the age and the discoveries of 
science, without thinking whence these 
blessings come. Where the word of God 
is not preached, the world cannot show a 
square mile of surface that is enlightened 
or even civilized. The gospel of the king- 
dom cannot be fully and clearly proclaimed 
anywhere without results. It is charmed 
with the power of God, and powerful to 
the everlasting salvation of souls. We 
claim for it an irresistible power in any 
community. Individuals may effectually 
resist it to their own destruction, but com- 



14 a pastor's legacy. 

munities, cities, or towns, never, as a mass, 
reject it. 

I love to contemplate the power and tri- 
umphs of a preached gospel. 

The learned often cavil and find fault, 
but while they are thus reasoning, the un- 
lettered or laboring classes are converted 
by scores, and a public sentiment is created 
which carries with it all classes. As a 
usual thing the gospel everywhere first 
takes hold of the poor, for the reason that 
they have less pride and prejudice, are less 
encumbered with worldly cares, and the 
deceitfulness of riches. Revivals of re- 
ligion usually commence among this class, 
and through them, the effect reaches all 
men. The gospel is not a dead letter. 
Preaching sometimes produces little or no 
effect ; the reason is that it is not the gos- 
pel preached in the way Christ intended it 
should be : if it were so it would be, now 
as heretofore, " the power of God unto sal- 
vation." It was for this reason that Paul 
the apostle was not ashamed of it. Neither 



POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 15 

was he ashamed to bring in his own expe- 
rience as evidence of its truth and power. 
Happy the minister who thus preaches from 
experience. Happy the people who hear 
him. 

The gospel to be a power in the earth 
must be felt. It must bring assurance to 
the soul of both preacher and people, that 
God is in it. The apostles were wont to 
say, " Our gospel came to you not in word 
only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost, 
and in much assurance," and it was the 
wisdom of God, as it produced the fruits 
of holy living among all classes. 

A full outpouring of the Spirit on the 
modern church would produce an excite- 
ment, a waking up of the populace, similar 
to that produced in apostolic times. 

I am not among those who believe the 
gospel has lost a particle of its power, to 
affect the masses of the people. It is still 
as ever, to those who hear it, a message 
from God. They who neglect its minis- 
trations do so at their peril. God is not to 



16 A pastor's legacy. 

be mocked, or his message made the subject 
of trifling. That which they sow they shall 
also reap, "hardness of heart and blindness 
of mind." 

" Evil men and seducers wax worse and 
worse, deceiving and being deceived" — but 
they soon pass away, being swept from the 
face of the earth. Few of us observe how 
short are the lives of profane and wicked 
men, who have "no fear of God before 
their eyes." They regard not the holy 
Sabbath with its hallowed associations, they 
respect not the preaching of the gospel, 
prayer and praise. They sin against God, 
the best interests of their own souls, and 
against the community. Were their influ- 
ence to prevail, heathenism with its attend- 
ant cruel rites would soon spread over this 
or any land. 

This reasoning is true to history, for we 
have examples in the cases of certain sec- 
tions of Asia and parts of Africa. Yet 
they profess patriotism and great love of 
country while working its utter ruin. 



PREACHING AS A POWER. 17 

Godless and profane men are a curse to 
any country. This remark you deem se- 
vere; but, my dear friend, if you will look 
at the question fairly, you will see that I 
am correct. Were not the people before 
the flood a curse to the earth ? If not, why 
were they destroyed? Were not the in- 
habitants of Sodom a curse? If this were 
not so, how then can you account for their 
destruction by tHe visitation of a singular 
judgment ? 

The religious element is the central power 
that preserves the life, and continues to bless 
every community. 

The churches, schools, and all other edu- 
cational systems are maintained by God- 
fearing men. 

ATTENDANCE ON PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

Do you attend public worship on the 
Lord's day? If not, why this neglect? 
Is it right, or is it wrong ? — it must be 
either the one or the other. Most of the 
persons to whom I have propounded this 

2 * 



18 A pastor's legacy. 

question have candidly admitted it was 
wrong, and thus condemned themselves. 

God made the Sabbath, he sanctified and 
set it apart for rest from toil, and as a day 
of convocation for worship. It is then 
that the gospel is preached, and prayer and 
praise offered to Him in whose hand is the 
life and happiness of all men. Have you 
not an interest in any of these hallowed 
exercises ? All who sincerely worship feel 
and show that they are largely benefitted 
by it. 

Regular attendants, who make no pro- 
fession of piety, always show a higher civ- 
ilization than those who do not. They 
usually have a better knowledge of men, 
more respect for their fellows, and in turn 
are more respected. 

They are more sympathetic and tender- 
hearted, and withal, have a keener sense 
of right and wrong, a matter, be it under- 
stood, of no small importance. Conscience 
is thereby kept alive and sensitive. It al- 
ways leads to self-respect. You know this 



ON ATTENDING CHURCH. 19 

to be true, by seeing the difference in dress 
and manners between those who do, and 
those who do not attend church. Church 
attendants are less vile and profane in their 
language, more industrious and careful in 
their habits, and altogether better men in 
community. All these things are true 
of those who do not make a profession of 
religion, but are merely regular attendants 
on divine service. 

TO THE YOUNG. 

It may be that you are young and just 
now forming habits, which in a few years 
will be difficult to break. You are aware 
that habit is almost uncontrollable when 
once formed. 

I know of no road to ruin so direct as a 
Godless, Sabbathless, churchless habit. I 
never knew in the course of my experience 
a man to rise to any eminence in society 
addicted to any one of them. Look around 
you and observe their lives, how poor and 
destitute they become before they reach the 



20 a pastok's legacy. 

advanced period. You cannot be blind to 
this fact; all around you the examples are 
too numerous. 

But you may say you do occasionally at- 
tend some church, but mostly on Sabbath 
evenings. The morning worship is too 
early for you ; you cannot rise soon enough 
from your bed. The fact itself, if you thus 
acknowledge it, is a disgrace to you, and 
the confession of it shows a great want of 
self-respect. A young gentleman or lady 
who looked much to character and the good 
opinion of those about them would never 
make such confession. 

It shows a habit of sluggish laziness that 
ought to put to shame any young person. 
The fact that you do not blush in admitting 
it, shows the little understanding you have 
of life, and the true way of success in that 
life. It may be that you are accustomed 
to walking or riding out in the morning of 
Sunday, and thus commit two faults instead 
of one. "Eemember the Sabbath day to 
keep it holy," language directly from God ; 



ON ATTENDING CHURCH. 21 

spoken from the heights of Sinai. In thus 
seeking pleasure, are you, as God requires, 
keeping the day holy? Or should you qui- 
etly remain in your own house, lounging 
lazily around, talking on current topics 
with your neighbors, or reading the news- 
papers, think you that the Sabbath is being 
kept holy by you? You may plead that 
it is customary. You only do as others 
about you are doing. I know that there 
is a certain responsibility resting on com- 
munities of men. God will judge towns, 
cities, and nations for every breach of his 
holy law. He has done it many times al- 
ready. Our nation has just passed under 
the cloud of his wrath, and felt the thunder 
of his power. We should be careful "lest 
a worse thing come upon us." The Ancient 
Israelites were carried into captivity partly 
for breaking the law of the Sabbath. 

But communities are composed of indi- 
viduals. God's plan of reforming men is 
by working upon and morally changing 
one at a time, until all are reached by gra- 



22 a pastor's legacy. 

cious influences and saved from vice. This 
is the only successful way of doing it. 
Mountains are removed by small portions 
at a time. You often wonder why so much 
Sabbath desecration is allowed. It cannot 
well be corrected, but by influencing each 
man to a right course. That will correct 
public sentiment and soon change the vices 
of whole communities. Look to yourself 
first, and see that you follow conscience and 
the holy law of God, and then use all your 
influence with those nearest to you. A 
little leaven soon changes the whole lump. 
A few earnest men can exert a vast influ- 
ence on a large mass by a little labor and 
care. But your Sabbath breaking habits 
lead others astray ; they are vicious because 
you are so. Instead of being a reformer, 
you may be ruining thousands. God may 
bear long, as he has done before, but your 
sin will certainly find you out. The Great 
Author of the law of the Sabbath watches 
you as closely as a nurse or mother watches 
a child. I really wonder that you are not 



ON ATTENDING CHURCH. 23 

afraid thus to disregard the Divine author- 
ity, " Eemember the Sabbath day." You 
no doubt often neglect and break it through 
mere forgetfulness. It may be that it was 
a fault of your father before you, and you 
are following in his Godless .footsteps. 
" Though hand join in hand, the wicked 
shall not go unpunished." 

The same cause may have kept your 
father poor to the day of his death, and 
unless a change takes place, it will most 
probably so affect you. 

It has kept down thousands. Nor would 
you be astonished at this if you could real- 
ize the holiness of the Author of this Di- 
vine command. Terrible accidents fre- 
quently hurl Sabbath-breakers into eternity 
in a moment of time, thus warning others 
of their danger in disobeying the precept. 
What mean the frequent occurrences in the 
vicinities of large cities by which many are 
hurried into the presence of their Judge ? 
Yet you and other thoughtless ones in this 
Sadducean age, rarely admit that the hand 



24 A pastor's legacy. 

of God is in them. The fire of wrath kin- 
dles upon men, yet they lay it not to heart. 
Only by acts of devotion public, social, or 
private, can we properly keep the Sabbath 
holy, as was the original intention of the 
Lawgiver. 

no taste. 

But it may be you have other excuses. 
You have no taste for hearing the gospel 
or uniting in any acts of Sabbath devotion. 
This is not at all strange. Men of no read- 
ing have little taste for it. Tastes are both 
natural and acquired. 

Practice will soon bring a love for almost 
anything. 

You know enough of life to be satisfied 
that what is offensive and distasteful at first, 
by a little use may become a great luxury. 
I ask in this respect no more for worship, 
prayer, and praise, than for other matters 
in human life. The royal psalmist, bur- 
dened with the cares of a kingdom, says, 
" I was glad when they said unto me, come 



SABBATH OBSERVANCE. 25 

let us go up to the house of the Lord to- 
day. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth 
for thy courts, O God most high." 

He was not alone ; millions have been 
drawn to the house of God by the same 
feeling. 

Moreover, would you desire to have it 
known that you felt a reluctance to enter 
the place of prayer ? 

Would it not put you in a class of society 
of which you would be ashamed ? "Show 
me the company a man keeps, and I will 
show you his character." Pick-pockets and 
thieves have no taste for worship, nor do> 
they care for the Sabbath, or the God who- 
made it for man. You are not among thesej 
and I would not class you with them ; but 
in one vice at least you are a unit. The 
lowest and roughest grades of community 
have ever neglected the house of God>. 
and for that reason most of them are only 
partially civilized. 

Habitual disregard for the day and house 
of the Lord, and all their hallowing influ- 
3 



26 A pastor's legacy. 

ences, will soon destroy the reputation of 
young men, and what is still worse, cause 
them to lose confidence in themselves. You 
have but to cast your eyes about you, to see 
a multitude thus fallen. Respectable connec- 
tions cannot save such from disgrace. The 
wise man says "the fear of the Lord is the 
beginning of wisdom." But few, however, 
for any length of time, feel the restraints 
of this fear, who are rarely if ever seen in 
the house of prayer. How quickly the 
heart becomes hardened, early impressions 
and tender feelings fade away, when not 
acted on by some religious influences. 

But your present intention is, that you 
will do better in the future. Neglect is 
only temporary. That such thoughts pass 
through your mind, there can be no doubt. 
Your parents may have been pious, and 
you often recur to it; then you feel sad 
and promise amendment. The purpose is 
good, but the delay is most dangerous. 
Felix purposed to hear Paul again, but 
never did so. Mental and verbal promises 



SABBATH OBSERVANCE. 27 

of future moral changes are very common, 
but they rarely have much weight. The 
only sure way to have anything accom- 
plished, is to commence it at once. 

To the pious, public worship is a neces- 
sity to true comfort. They would prefer 
to lose a portion of food or sleep, rather 
than the privilege, the delights, of public 
worship. 

"At once they sing, at once they pray, 
They hear of heaven and learn the way." 

You could not have failed to have no- 
ticed this fact when you have strayed into 
a place of worship, and perhaps have won- 
dered that 'you did not sympathize with the 
feeling. There is really no cause for won- 
der ; your days of childhood may have 
been sadly neglected, and subsequent asso- 
ciations may have led you away from the 
path of virtue and piety, or the absenting 
yourself from the house of God, contrary 
to the wishes and prayers of devoted pa- 
rents, may have been caused by your stub- 



28 A pastor's legacy. 

born will and perverse temper. In that 
case your guilt is the more deep and damn- 
ing. If that be your condition, I know 
your conscience is an unpleasant companion. 
It cannot be otherwise. 

But you are yet within the reach of 
mercy, you need not despair, for you can 
still have hope. The only way of success 
in any valued enterprise is to begin at once, 
slight resolves and feeble beginnings will 
never correct bad habits. Consider well 
your own immortality; that you are a 
spirit that came from God, and must soon 
appear before him to render an account of 
the life you have lived on earth. That you 
have only so many days and weeks to live, 
and that the passage of each day and week 
brings you that much nearer the final set- 
tlement of your account before the God 
who made you, and the Christ who re- 
deemed you by his most precious blood. 
Remember, this life is a probation, a trial. 

There is no reformation after you pass 
away from the life that now is, to the life 



BAD HABITS ON THE SABBATH. 29 

of eternity — " as the tree falls, so it lies." 
As death finds you, so shall you appear be- 
fore God, there is no repentance or refor- 
mation in the grave. In view of all this, 
and I am sure you cannot, you dare not, 
contradict or deny a word of it, will you, 
can you, dare you, break God's holy day, 
or neglect the place of worship? The 
writer will soon meet you face to face be- 
fore the judgment-seat of Christ, and he 
therefore speaks strongly on a matter he 
well knows to be true, and to you in- 
finitely important. 

HANGING ABOUT SHOPS. 

I often see young men lounging about 
the doors of engine houses, segar shops, 
or drinking saloons on the Lord's day. I 
know that many of them have been trained 
to do otherwise, and there can be no doubt 
but that conscience at first reproves them 
sharply for the practice. But custom makes 
anything easy in a few years. 

Look at it, my dear friend ; what good 
3 * 



30 A pastor's legacy. 

does it do you or any one else? Scan the 
life and conduct of those who have long 
indulged in the practice, and ask if they 
are any wiser, better, or more esteemed, or 
even as much esteemed, in society, as those 
who have kept the Sabbath holy and spent 
its hours in the Sabbath-scjiool and house 
of God? Are they not coarse in their 
manners and profane in their language? 
Are they as well off in worldly business ? 
You know they rarely are in any business 
whatever. 

As a general rule do they live as respect- 
ably ? Are they as much respected and as 
well prepared for an honorable old age? 
En whatever way you may answer these 
questions, you do not, you cannot, approve 
of such a way of spending the hours of 
God's holy day ; but because it is common 
with those in whose company you take 
pleasure, you first excuse it, and occasion- 
ally make one of their number. 

Practice quiets objection, and in a little 
while you justify and defend it as harmless, 



POWER OF HABIT. 31 

then you are really on the road to ruin. 
Yet like all others in similar circumstances, 
you are not aware of it. " Surely in vain 
the net is spread in the sight of any bird." 
Be not surprised if you are forsaken of 
good society and soon lose confidence in 
yourself; a great loss indeed. A love of 
low society will soon follow this, " and thou 
mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy 
body are consumed, and say how have I 
hated instruction, and my heart despised 
reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of 
my teachers nor inclined mine ear to them 
that instructed me!!" 

Are you sufficiently impressed with that 
which men of experience well know, that 
no act of a man's life terminates in itself? 
It makes an impression, and like motion 
given to water, it sends its vibrations along 
the history of the endless future. "O, 
could the young man but look into my 
desolation," said Charles Lamb, " and be 
made to understand what a dreary thing it 
is when a man feels himself going down a 



32 A pastor's legacy. 

precipice, with open eyes and a passive will 
— to see his destruction and have no power 
to stop it, and yet to feel it all the way 
emanating from himself. Could he see my 
fevered eye, fevered with last night's in- 
temperance, and feverishly looking for this 
night's repetition of the folly; could he 
feel the body of the death out of which I 
cry hourly, with feebler and feebler outcry 
to be delivered, it were enough to make 
him dash the sparkling wine cup to the 
earth." 

Charles Lamb was one of the most beau- 
tiful and attractive writers that English lit- 
erature has ever had, and yet he fell a victim 
to the indulgence of appetite. 

The stately tree did not grow in a day, 
and no man is matured in any vice, on his 
first commencement of it. If you indulge 
in any vicious practice, you are on the broad 
road to a drunkard's idiocy, or a felon's, 
cell ; then you will find " that the way of 
the transgressor is hard." 

How many promising young men with 



EARLY HABITS. 33 

brilliant talents, who had they have taken 
the right course and improved their time 
in reading and thinking, been regular at- 
tendants on church, and avoided careless 
company, would have shone as stars in 
community, lived out a long life of com- 
fort and usefulness, and would have gone 
down to a late grave the theme of praise 
on every tongue. 

Early, church going habits have saved 
thousands. 

This leads young persons into good so- 
ciety, and deeply impresses them with the 
fear of God. All around can you see the 
fearful wrecks that line the path of life ; 
they cannot be hidden from your sight. 
Are you willing to become one of their 
number ? If you are not, then remember, 

"It saves us from a thousand snares 
To mind religion young." 

LIQUOR DEALERS ARE MURDERERS. 

Every drinking-saloon is an immeasura- 
ble curse to society. Till the day of judg- 



34 A pastor's legacy. 

ment reveals it, the mischief they have 
done and still do, will never be known. 
They are located on nearly every corner of 
the street. There are dozens within a few 
hundred yards of the church where the 
Writer now labors. Like the gates of hell, 
where they annually send thousands of 
souls, they are open all days and all nights. 
Their proprietors, greedy of gain, know no 
Sabbaths or days of rest. Other stores are 
closed on God's holy day. The Israelites 
who observe Saturday as a day of holy rest, 
show sufficient respect to public opinion, 
to close their stores also, on the first day of 
the week. But what cares a liquor dealer 
for public opinion? He murders his fel- 
low-men by thousands, and produces his 
license to prove himself innocent of crime. 
I trust he will retain that document; 
have a friend place it beside his cold body 
in the coffin ; and when at the last day he 
appears before God in judgment, let him 
produce it, if he be allowed to carry it 
there ; then let him see if the Judge of all 



EARLY HABITS. 35 

the earth, will then and there acquit him 
in the presence of the widows whose hus- 
bands he had sent to an early grave ; in the 
presence of the parents whose sons he 
enticed into his den, and but for him would 
have been in the mansions of the blest. 
Be entreated, young man, to avoid these 
earthly hells ; sit not about their door, lest 
your moral principles give way, and you 
form habits and attachments that you will 
never be able to break. 

David says of just such characters as you 
see in bar-rooms, " I have hated the con- 
gregation of evil doers, and will not sit 
with the wicked ; I will wash my hands 
in innocency; so will I compass thine 
altars." You cannot go among them, with- 
out soon admiring their coarse and vulgar 
jokes, their profane wit, and will become 
like to them in your habits. Learn, as 
other good men have learned, to hate such 
company. David also says, "I have not 
sat with vain persons, neither will I go in 
with dissemblers." " Blessed is the man that 



36 a pastor's legacy. 

walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, 
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sit- 
teth in the seat of the scornful." 

Mark the progress in crime — a man 
walketh first in the counsel of the ungodly ; 
then standeth about the doors of liquor 
saloons among sinners, and sooner than he 
imagines he deems all goodness and piety, 
mere cant and hypocrisy, and then he has 
reached the seat of the scornful. 

There is not a hoary-headed infidel re- 
jecting Divine revelation, and spurning 
the counsels of good men, calling all Sab- 
bath laws and customs puritanism, who 
was in that condition in early life. These 
feelings can only grow with the growth of 
years. Infidelity is not natural but ac- 
quired. 

But the purest moral sentiments and 
most pious inclinations will soon give way, 
if a man persistently walks in the counsel 
of the ungodly ; by walking in the counsel 
is meant — keeping the company of irreli- 
gious men, sitting about bar-rooms, listening 



EARLY HABITS. 37 

to the vulgar wit of godless and profane men. 
Allow me to warn all those who live in dense 
populations, of the imminent danger contin- 
ually besetting them from this practice. 

Those who allow themselves to be thus 
led away and influenced, will learn when it 
is too late, that he who takes the course of 
the youthful David, and avoids such com- 
pany, is happy, prosperous, and respected 
by all men, while they who followed the 
course of vice are clad in rags, poverty, and 
disgrace. I could give you scores of exam- 
ples. From the gallows, and with a rope 
around his neck, I once heard a man ad- 
dress the crowd, who came to witness his 
execution. He warned young men against 
card-playing, declaring it to be the means 
of his ruin. Murder at last, he said, af- 
fected his conscience less than did card- 
playing at first. 

Will you consent to # work hard, and then 
give your earnings to the men who stand 
behind counters or sit about among whis- 
key barrels, and who work not a single 



38 a pastor's legacy. 

hour of the twenty-four ? By your earn- 
ings in labor, they become rich in idle- 
ness, while you remain poor all through 
life. They clothe and educate their chil- 
dren, while you support them on your 
honest, hard toil. If all working men 
would forsake them, they would be com- 
pelled to close their doors, and seek an 
honorable mode of life. Like the recent 
slave-holders of the South, they live and 
grow rich on the labor of other people. 
Have you never noticed that as soon as 
you have exhausted all your means over 
their counters, their sickly and sentimental 
friendship leaves them, and you are pushed 
into the street ? All they desire and crave, 
is your hard earned money. They not 
only make you poor, which in itself is 
sufficiently sad, but they ruin your morals, 
blast your reputation, and lay you prema- 
turely in the grave.. Their way is "the 
way of death, leading down to the cham- 
bers of hell." You may at the present 
time, disregard these weighty words, and 



AVOID THE BOWL. 39 

turn away with a loud laugh; but their 
force will come again to you in the future ; 
it may be on a sick and dying bed, but 
surely before the "great white throne," 
where God will judge us all. 

Can you tell me the advantage gained 
by the liquor seller in ruining you ? Seek 
out those with whom you are acquainted, 
and view their history and that of their 
children. The contemptible business can 
be started with a capital of five dollars ; 
the profits with their mode of drugging and 
watering liquor being enormous. Foolish 
buyers are numerous. They sell for cash. 
Money comes in rapidly, and they are soon 
called wealthy men. Liquor dealers usually 
die in middle life, but few live to old age. 
Their children are often drunken prodigals, 
and the wealth acquired in ruining their 
neighbors is soon wasted, and their offspring 
beg for bread. And even should their chil- 
dren, seeing the error of their fathers, turn to 
a pious course, their money will pass into 
other hands. The house was built in blood, 



40 A pastor's legacy. 

and " the stone out of the wall shall cry 
out, and the beam out of the timber shall 
answer it." 

Oh, that I could gain the ear of every 
man who sells the liquid fire, I would say 
to him, " What pleasure shall he have in 
his house after him, when the number of 
his months is cut off in the midst ?" A 
curse is on every dollar of his ill-gotten 
wealth. God shall watch to see that it 
does neither him nor his children good. 

But he will not hear me. Such a man 
rarely goes to church, and still more rarely 
reads a book, unless it be some story of riot, 
rapine, and blood ; foolish tales written by 
men morally as corrupt as himself. There 
is no inlet for good by which he can be 
reached by gospel influences ; henca he is 
likely to grow " worse and worse, deceiv- 
ing and being deceived." Yet for him 
Christ died, and the Spirit's influence may 
not be utterly withdrawn. He is in the 
broad way which many travel that leads to 
eternal death. His heart is bad, his life is 



LIQUOR DEALERS. 41 

bad, his business the vilest, most degrading, 
and demoralizing that men can follow. 

Could I reach his ear I would tell him all 
this and much more. I would say, God sees 
your every step, with its motive ; sees each 
glass you serve to your customer ; knows 
the measures you use to entrap young men 
into your house; counts the many you 
have tempted away from right paths, mak- 
ing them a curse to themselves and to 
society; hears the wailing cries of the 
widows and orphans, made such by your 
traffic in deadly poisons. Shall he — can 
he — allow your escape from the woes he 
pronounces on those who put the cup to 
the lips of others ? May that great Being 
who will be your final judge, tender your 
heart while there is yet time for repentance 
and reformation. Quit your business xow, 
and learn to support your family in an 
honest way, and you may yet find mercy. 
Attend the means of grace, let your repen- 
tance be deep, and sufficiently public to 
convince all whom you have injured, that 



42 A pastor's legacy. 

you are sincere and earnest in your reforma- 
tion. 

But as a last word let me admonish all 
young men to take a right course. I have 
dealt faithfully with both the tempter and 
the tempted, the seducer and the seduced. 
I must do it, as I shall soon give account 
to God for all I have said : " Righteous- 
ness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach 
to any people." 

Liquor shops are the disgrace, the crime 
of our nation. 

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE? 

An old Catechism asks, "what is the 
chief end of man?" Its answer is, "to 
glorify God and enjoy him forever." You 
certainly believe this. No sane man can 
admit for a moment, that we are intended 
merely for this world. To eat, drink, toil, 
and sleep for a few short years, then to die 
and be forgotten. If that is the chief end 
of man, the animal you drive has the ad- 
vantage over you. He has no care, fears 



THE END OF MAN. 43 

no loss, has no conscience to condemn him. 
Having plenty to eat he is quite content. 
How different is human society. See the 
faces of merchants and other men of busi- 
ness ; how wrinkled and care-worn. The 
laboring classes are but little better. They 
work harder, but have less care and anx- 
iety. Both soon die, and carry nothing 
with them. 

The wise man says, " A contented mind 
is a continual feast." Nothing but grace, 
piety, love, — the love of God shed abroad 
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost can create 
contentment in any man's mind. Then 
add to this a deep interest in the world's 
reformation — a work for which Christ came, 
labored, suffered, and died. Then he is in 
the path and tries to glorify God. If he 
so continues during life, he will certainly 
enjoy God forever. " Blessed are the dead 
who die in the Lord; even so saith the 
Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and 
their works do follow them." But the 
rich and the poor are alike wretched if they 



44 A pastok's legacy. 

neglect the chief purpose of life. Piety 
and Christian industry in doing good glori- 
fies God. True worship glorifies him. 
" He that offereth praise glorifieth me, and 
to him that ordereth his conversation aright 
will I show my salvation." Stop, my young 
friend, and ask yourself the question, am I 
answering the end of my creation ? 

SHALL YOUR LIFE BE A FAILURE? 

Take the advice of one who loves you, 
one who has gone through -the season of 
youth through which you are now passing. 
Who has seen all the enchantments that 
now charm and bias your better judgment. 
Wisdom I know is not always with age, 
but other things being equal, men of expe- 
rience are the best counsellors. You have 
but one life on earth, and wisdom would 
teach that it should not be wasted in folly. 
Many in advanced life have said to me, 
"My life has been a failure;" but alas, 
they could not redeem it, not an hour could 
they bring back or live over again. The 



LIFE A FAILURE. 45 

rich man mourned that he had not answered 
the chief end of life, and desired to return 
from the spirit land to do the work he had 
neglected through a long life. His repen- 
tance came too late ; the die was cast, and 
his condition fixed forever. 

In this life, perhaps, you would prefer 
the condition of the rich man, but in the 
next you would desire the happy portion 
of Lazarus. Both you cannot well have. 
Make your choice of a life of humble piety 
and worship, or a life of sin. "Choose 
you this day whom you will serve. You 
cannot serve God and mammon." Let the 
time past be sufficient for the folly you 
have wrought, and remember that 

" Time destroyed is suicide, 
Where more than blood is spilt." 

Every man carves out his own fortune. 
God has made him to decide the question 
of his own honor and glorious future, or 
his own disgrace and infamy. You, are 
the controller and maker of your own 
fate. Angels and men are the witness of 






46 A pastor's legacy. 

your folly or wisdom. Eternal bliss or 
woe will be the certain issue of your 
decision. 

TO HEADS OF FAMILIES. 

Are you the head of a family? Your 
position is a most responsible one. You 
stand more or less in the place of God to 
your children. They look to you for every- 
thing they need. They have a right to do 
this ; neither at your will can you cast off 
your responsibility. God and the future 
generation will hold you to it in spite of 
yourself. Educate and train them you 
must. The great Author of your and their 
being, has by his wise Providence placed 
you where you are, and requires you to 
train up those children to fear God and 
keep his laws. He says he " will visit the 
iniquities of the fathers upon the children. 
The seed of evil doers shall never be re- 
nowned." 

Many times in your short history you 
have seen the fulfilment of these prophetic 



HEADS OF FAMILIES. 47 

Scriptures. Like father like son is a com- 
mon proverb, and as a general rule a true 
one. If the father is a strict attendant up- 
on a place of worship, his children usually 
are ; but careless parents are mostly cursed 
with utterly careless children. As things 
now exist, many children are saved from 
treading in the footsteps of godless parents, 
by the Sabbath-school system so common 
to all. 

This is a matter for which yourself and the 
whole community should be thankful to 
Almighty God. This may prevent your 
children from falling heir to your godless 
habits on God's holy day, but by no means 
, does it lessen the fearful guiltiness resting 
on yourself for non-attendance on some 
place of worship, and thus withholding 
from those who must bear your name down 
to future generations, that example which 
they had a right to expect from you, and 
which future society may yefr curse your 
name for not rendering. " No man liveth 
to himself, and no man dieth to himself." 



48 A pastor's legacy. 

Your children, in all probability, will imi- 
tate your careless example in spending the 
holy Sabbath, as though it were intended 
for idle dissipation instead of devout wor- 
ship, prayer, and praise. 

Are you willing they should live as you 
do, spend God's holy day as do you, idly, 
carelessly, or following your regular busi- 
ness as on other days ? If not, let me, as 
your best friend, entreat you to change 
your course of life altogether, lest your 
regrets come too late, as has been the case 
with thousands who have lived before you. 
Now is the time to commence this reforma- 
tion. If you lay down this book and say 
you will think of it hereafter, Satan ever 
ready to take advantage of all delays, will 
fill your mind with something else, and the 
precious emotions now acting so strongly 
on you, may never again return. Deter- 
mine on the right course now — and at once 
put the resolution into practice. You will 
soon feel as if a load were removed from 
your shoulder ; your family and neighbors 



REGARD FOR HOLY THINGS. 49 

will soon see in you a different man, and 
all will rejoice with you in the mighty 
change wrought in yourself and in all your 
circumstances. Do you object to all this 
by saying, "you don't like the church or 
religious people ? The half of them are not 
what they profess to be ; they attend church 
to be seen of men, and are no better than 
myself." 

It would be strange that if among the 
thousands who attend church, there were 
not some unworfhy ones. 

Half the virgins were foolish. St. Paul 
had to reprove certain church members in 
his day, for vices which rarely occur at the 
present time. Yet he charges men " not to 
forget the asembling of themselves together 
after the manner of some." If the church 
and religious people were as bad as some 
men of your stamp would represent them, 
churches would long since have been blot- 
ted from the face of the earth, as some 
wicked families and nations have been. 
But with all the errors of individuals at- 

5 



50 a pastor's legacy. 

tached to the great body of God's people, 
the church stands, increases, and spreads, 
and will yet cover all lands, " for the mouth 
of the Lord hath spoken it." You may find 
it quite easy to cover your own faults by 
finding fault with others. But before 
God, do you deem your own conscience 
satisfied? 

I desire to deal honestly with you, as I 
know that "without holiness no man shall 
see the Lord," and am quite sure the first 
step toward piety and holiness will not be 
taken until you are a regular attendant 
upon the house of prayer. Men who at- 
tend church may be corrupt and wicked, 
but they are not as apt to be, as those who 
are never seen there ; you are well aware 
of this ; nor are their children so apt to be 
godless and profane. All the piety you 
find in any community, you find among 
those who are regular worshippers in the 
temple of prayer, where God's honor 
dwelleth. 

You would not bury your wife or child 



YOU MAKE MANNERS. .51 

without some religious services — you would 
be ashamed to do so. Your neighbors 
would make you a byword if you did, and 
it would be unpleasant for you to hear of it 
afterward. Yet you do not seem to be 
ashamed to lounge about house the entire 
Sabbath morning, and take your pleasure 
in the afternoon and evening. I marvel 
at your inconsistency. 

" Ye are the makers of manners" says a 
shrewd writer. Every neglecter of public 
worship is aiding the irreligion of commu- 
nity. His influence is on the side of crime 
and folly. He cannot well reprove any 
vice, as part of it may be traced to him 
as the cause. 

As the liquor dealer is responsible for 
the drunken habits of thousands, and many 
of the murders caused by strong drink, so 
are you for the careless irreligion if not as 
well for the crimes of thousands. 

You may not have been accustomed in 
this light to view neglect of the house of 
God; but let judgment and conscience now 



52 A pastor's legacy. 

say if I am not right. Your attention to 
the house of God most likely would have 
led five or six others to the same place. 

They thereby would have contracted an 
attachment to the place, and a love for the 
worship. The word of God might have 
worked their salvation, for " faith cometh 
by hearing, and hearing by the word of 
God." 

The gospel is a two-edged sword "divid- 
ing asunder the soul and spirit, the joint 
and marrow and is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart." But 
your neglect has been copied by others, 
they have not heard a saving gospel and 
they have therefore become the victims of 
vice, perhaps intemperance as a result. 
Wretched themselves they make wretched 
all those about them, die prematurely and 
quickly go down into hell. Their ruin 
may be traced to your Godless example. 

THOUGHTLESSNESS. 

When God maketh inquisition* for blood 



YOU KUIN OTHERS. 53 

can you escape ? If the liquor dealer sells 
rum for gain and God requires the blood 
of his victims at his hands ; how can you 
escape a just sentence from the same right- 
eous Judge, for those led away by your ex- 
ample and influence ? I once heard a man 
use profane language and told him that 
such men rarely lived out half their days. 
He seemed surprised. I then asked him 
if he had ever observed in his daily walks 
many aged men who used the name of God 
profanely. He stood for a moment amazed, 
but broke silence by saying, "it is a serious 
thing when one thinks of it." This may 
be the case with you — you had not seriously 
thought of it before. 

The wise man says, "one sinner destroy- 
eth much good." You may not call your- 
self a sinner. But what will be God's 
opinion of one whose example has ruined 
many. And you dare not say that no one 
has been led to neglect religious things al- 
together through your influence. 

I know you have not so looked at the 
5 * 



54 A pastor's legacy. 

matter. But I equally well know that a 
wiser one than either of us did say to a 
certain class of men "Ye .shut up the 
kingdom of heaven against men; for ye 
neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye 
them that are entering to go in." 

They never thought what they were do- 
ing any more than you yourself think. 
This language of Christ must have alarmed 
them, as perhaps my plain language may 
alarm you. I most truly hope it will cause 
you alarm. Saul was alarmed when he 
saw himself. So would every neglecter be, 
could he be brought to feel that he was 
dealing with real things, and not with 
dreams and fantasies. We live in a Sad- 
ducean age when men hardly believe, in 
God, in angels, or in Spirits. 

Eternal things seem to be so far in the 
distance that they have but little power 
over .many : but how great the mistake of 
their distance ; God and eternity are near 
us all. You and the one who has been the 
victim of your example will soon meet face 



YOU RUIN OTHERS. 55 

to face, before the world's Redeemer, to 
account for the many broken Sabbaths and 
neglected opportunities of the past. Will 
that one so misled be your own child, or 
the child of some neighbor? In either 
case I would not willingly bear your guilt. 

But while there is life there is hope. 
God spares you, as a barren tree is spared, 
hoping you may yet bear fruit. You are 
still able to go to church. 

The gospel is yet preached near your 
dwelling. The Holy Spirit still strives, 
and your conscience is not wholly dead. 
The time is short ; " it is now high time 
to awake out of sleep." Let the time past 
suffice to have wrought folly, see to it that 
you waste no more time. 

"Awake thou that sleepest and arise from 
the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." 
Haste to place thy feet in the path of piety. 
Repentance and reformation are still possi- 
ble. 

" Strive to enter in at the straight gate." 
It is true it may require an effort. You 



56 A pastor's legacy. 

may say habit is powerful and quote the 
verse " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, 
or the leopard his spots ?" It will require 
decision, resolution, and faith in the help 
of God. All these you can have by ap- 
pealing to your manhood, and to God. 
" Perseverance overcometh all things." 

But I would have you remember that 
no reformations occur among those who are 
neglecters of the house of God and place 
of prayer. You must commence carrying 
out your convictions of duty, by regular 
and devout attention to public worship. 
"Faith cometh by hearing." A sermon 
must indeed be a poor one that does not 
teach you something, you never knew be- 
fore. As long as I have been preaching, I 
rarely hear a sermon, but that I learn some- 
thing of which I was formerly ignorant. 
? Tis God's method of educating the multi- 
tude in religion: "For after that in the 
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew 
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness 
of preaching to save them that believe." 



god's method of education. 57 

To redeem the world from all crime and 
sin, God has ordained the preaching of the 
gospel. It was at first deemed a novel and 
foolish way of reforming mankind. To 
this common sentiment of non-thinking 
men, the apostle alludes in the phrase 
" foolishness of preaching." But he knew 
it was not foolishness, for he says in another 
place it " is the power of God unto salva- 
tion." 

It is a grand reformer, and instrumentally 
has saved millions. Every passing year 
does not lessen the number of , those con- 
verted by its means, but increases the mul- 
titude of redeemed souls. 

KELIGIOUS HEROISM. 

It is true we do not live in a day of 
gospel heroism. Opposition and persecu- 
tion give birth to heroes. The world knew 
not of the great number of heroes that our 
country contained until the late war waked 
up the slumbering nation and brought out 
its mighty resources, and with them the 



58 A pastob's legacy. 

men for the hour. The world now stands 
amazed at the sight. Weak women, before 
unnoticed have shown that in their bosoms 
dwelt peacefully the lion and the lamb. 
No one knew of the presence of the lion, 
but when God and humanity called, they 
have shown that in their quiet natures dwelt 
true heroism. ' 

So is it in the church. The fear and love 
of God lies at the foundation, of all true 
and earnest religious profession. It may 
to you as a careless outsider, appear as pro- 
fession only ; but let circumstances of op- 
position and difficulty come, and you will 
see heroism displayed that will surprise 
you. 

The church is alive yet, thank God, and 
will rise and show a vigor to which the 
present generation is a stranger. Exactly 
as it was written, has prophecy been fulfil- 
ling for ages. It is fulfilling — every day* 

And what is said of the future will as 
surely occur as what has been said of the 
past. Christ says he "beheld Satan as 



RELIGIOUS SERVICES. 59 

lightning falling from heaven" that is from 
power and authority. " This gospel of the 
kingdom shall be preached in all the world 
for a witness to all nations, and then shall 
the end come." This promise is now under 
fulfillment. "His dominion shall be from 
sea to sea, and from the river, to the ends 
of the earth" — "all nations shall bow 
down to him, and serve him." There is a 
glorious future before the church of Christ ; 
my short life has been spent in trying with 
all my feeble powers to help and forward 
this glorious work. And had I a score of 
lives they should be spent in this loved 
employ. What is wealth, and honor, and 
station to a man, who must so soon leave 
all and pass into the spirit land? There is 
nothing here, that is true and abiding. All 
like the shadow of the cloud passes away. 
But he who works for God and humanity, 
wastes no labor, and will not, cannot lose 
his reward. 

Who does not desire at the last hour, to 
hear the joyful plaudit from the Lord 



60 A pastok's legacy. 

" "Well done good and faithful servant, en- 
ter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
. But to return to those who have no part 
in the work of the world's redemption. 
The above was a word in season to you. 
But you in the evangelization of mankind 
neither feel or see any importance. You 
say you do not oppose religion or public 
worship. * Let all who wish attend to it. 

You are very kind indeed, and I opine 
the devil is quite well pleased with your 
quiet neutrality. But I have before told 
you that God hates neutrality. You at 
least have one talent, will you repeat the 
experiment of burying it in the earth? 
What did God say to the one who tried it 
before you? "Take him and bind him 
hand and foot, and cast him into outer dark- 
ness, there shall be weeping and gnashing 
of teeth." You will no doubt endeavor 
to twist that text, and give it a meaning 
that will exonerate you. So do all Godless 
men usually : but are you willing to run 
the fearful risk of trusting your eternal 



FALSE AND INFIDEL NOTIONS. 61 

interests to the exposition given to a plain 
text by a company of infidels called, Uni- 
versalists ? 

" Who vapor in an empty school 
And make no proselytes." 

DO YOU HOPE IN FALSE AND INFIDEL 
NOTIONS ? 

I would not be severe on any class of 
religious teachers, I never have been : but 
it becomes necessary for us to sometimes 
speak as did Paul to Elymas " O full of 
all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of 
the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, 
wilt thou not cease to pervert the right 
ways of the Lord ?" 

" I venerate the man whose heart is warm, 
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrines and whose life 
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof 
That he is honest in the sacred cause." 

But are they honest who pervert the 
Holy Scriptures to lead men away from the 
right path ? " By their fruits shall ye know 
them." How many drunkards and vile 

6 



62 A pastor's legacy. 

men have Universalists led to sobriety and 
virtue? They have many such to hear 
them ; but can they do them any good by 
telling them that such characters as John 
Wilkes Booth the assassin, is in no more 
danger of future punishment than his la- 
mented victim the honored Mr. Lincoln ? 

GOD IS JUST. 

Your better judgment as well as the 
Bible teaches you that God is just. That 
he will render to every man according to 
his works ; that many of the vilest and 
most cruel men pass from this earth by a 
sudden stroke ; suffer but little, and have 
no time for repentance. Are they as safe 
as the good, virtuous, and useful ? Ahab 
persecuted the pious, slew all the minister- 
ing priests he could find, and soon himself 
died by violence. Elijah was translated. 
Can you think they in the spirit world are 
alike happy? The same question might 
be asked in regard to Nebuchadnezzar, and 
the three men he threw into the furnace ! 



GOD IS JUST. 63 

The meek and pious John and his persecu- 
tors ! The company of holy martyrs and 
those who tortured them to death ! Nor 
can you believe that the vile ones whose 
entire lives are spent in crime, and who, as 
is often the case, die in a moment, are taken 
immediately into Paradise, to be equal in 
this respect with those who have spent their 
time in doing good to all men. 

Eeason revolts at the thought. You 
cannot admit so monstrous a doctrine. 
Then allow not yourself to be misled by 
the sophistry of errorists and infidels. The 
great Teacher says, " If ye die in your sins, 
where I am ye cannot come." The ques- 
tion then is, do men ever die in their sins ? 
if they do, their fate is then sealed for- 
ever ! 

I have written the last few pages to meet 
the cases of those who neglect the place of 
worship, because they have imbibed certain 
opinions of infidels, Universalists, and free 
thinkers generally. There are always a 
scattering few of such persons, and the 



64 a pastor's legacy. 

world has never been free of their pre- 
sence. The great world of irreligious men 
are orthodox at heart, whatever they may 
say in excuse for a life of folly and sin. 
Your own convictions of the truth which 
Bible history has produced upon your 
mind you cannot shake from you. You 
perhaps are not able to tell its source, but 
it is there. It proves the chief burden of 
your life. You know it as well as I do. 
I have been too long commingling with 
men of your class not to know your real 
feeling. I have seen doubters, confirmed 
infidels, according to their own notions, who 
had been so for many years, and Universal- 
ists old and young ; I have been with them 
in health, sickness, and death, and have 
never seen much difference. All have de- 
sired a hope in Christ, or some sure expec- 
tation of the rest of the good, when this 
life passed away. 

Hence I speak thus confidently. You 
may to hide a blush of fear or shame, or to 
keep yourself in countenance with those 



FALSE NOTIONS. 65 

around you, deny that you have feelings 
such as I have here described, and which 
Cowper clearly expresses, 

" There dwells a consciousness in every breast, 
That folly ends where genuine hope begins, 
And he who finds his heaven must lose his sins." 

And now my friend, for whom Christ 
died, why cleave to a life of folly, neglect, 
and impiety? Its natural result is some 
form of infidelity. I leave it to your com- 
mon sense, and calm mature judgment. 
God says, " Come and let us reason toge- 
ther." Which pays the better, a life of 
secret or open neglect of God, and his wor- 
ship, or one of piety, devotion, and prayer? 
"Which is the more happy, contented, and 
prosperous, the pious, or the vulgar and 
impious ? Let experience and observation 
in the sight of God answer. The question 
is a fair one, and is fairly placed before 
you. Make your conclusions righteously, 
and act according to them. If I am right, 
heed my counsels and take my advice. 
6 * 



A PASTOR S LEGACY. 



But for the sake of the eternal interests of 
your soul do not delay — wait not an hour 
longer. " Choose you this day whom you 
will serve." 



ALL MEN ARE CALLED. 67 



CHAPTER II. 

ALL MEN AEE CALLED. 

No man lives or ever has lived, without 
religious sentiments and convictions. All 
feel the power of an influence arise from 
whatsoever source it may, leading to respect 
and even reverence for the Divine Being. 
A fear of offending and a desire to please 
him. Rollin the historian says, " It is ob- 
servable in all ages and regions, the several 
nations of the world, however various and 
opposite in their characters, inclinations, 
and manners, have always united in one 
essential point ; the inherent opinion of an 
adoration due to a Supreme Being, and of 
external methods necessary to evince such 
a belief. In every people we discover a 
reverence and awe of the Divinity; an 



OO A PASTOR'S LEGACY. 

homage and honor paid to him, and an 
open profession of an entire dependence 
upon him, in all their undertakings and 
necessities, in all their adversities and dan- 
gers, Incapable of themselves to penetrate 
futurity, and ascertain events in their own 
favor, we find them intent upon consulting 
the Divinity, by oracles and by other 
methods of a like nature; and to merit 
his protection by prayers, vows, and offer- 
ings. They never vary in regard to the 
foundation of this belief. If some few per- 
sons depraved by a false philosophy presume 
from time to time to rise up against this 
doctrine, they are immediately disclaimed 
by the public voice. They continue sin- 
gular and alone without making parties or 
forming sects. The whole weight of the 
public authority falls upon them ; a price is 
set upon their heads, while they are univer- 
sally regarded as execrable persons, and the 
bane of civil society." 

" So general, so uniform, so perpetual a 
consent, of all the nations of the universe, 



ALL MEN ARE CALLED. 69 

which neither the prejudice of the passions, 
the false reasoning of some philosophers, 
nor the authority and example of certain 
princes, have ever been able to weaken or 
vary, can proceed only from a first principle, 
which pervades the nature of man ; from 
an inherent sense, planted in his heart, by 
the Author of his being, and from an 
original tradition as ancient as the world 
itself." 

All this is said of Ancient Heathen, who 
were not blessed with Divine revelation. 
It shows and effectually proves that all men 
are created alike. That a religious senti- 
ment pervades all nations, all classes, and 
more minutely speaking all men. There 
never was a time when it was otherwise 
and never will there be. 

Nothing but vice and crime can drive 
away this sense of responsibility to God. 
" There is no fear of God before their eyes" 
is said only of the most degraded — de- 
graded be it understood, only by a volun- 



70 A pastor's legacy. 

tary surrendering to criminal habits of 
thought and of life. 

This fear of God was exhibited and con- 
fessed by the thief on the cross. Belshaz- 
zar feared and trembled at the mysterious 
hand on the wall. ' Felix reveling in crime 
and cruelty trembled under the caustic 
preaching of St. Paul. 

How beautiful does Davy describe the 
faith that man should have in God, by say- 
ing, " I envy no quality of the mind or 
intellect in others — not genius, power — wit 
— or fancy ; but if I could choose what 
would be most delightful, and I believe 
most useful to me, I should prefer a firm, 
religious belief to every other blessing; for 
it makes life a discipline of goodness ; cre- 
ates new hopes, when all earthly hopes van- 
ish ; and throws over decay, the destruction 
of existence, the most gorgeous of all lights; 
awakens life even in death — and from cor- 
ruption and decay, calls up beauty and di- 
vinity; makes an instrument of torture 
and of shame, the ladder of ascent to par- 



DRAWINGS. 71 

adise ; and far above all combinations of 
earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful 
visions of palms and amaranths, the gar- 
dens of the blest, the security of everlasting 
joys, where the sensualist and the skeptic 
view only gloom, decay, annihilation and 
despair." All this shows that every man 
feels a sense of responsibility to God. It 
reveals more — it tells us, we are immortal, 
that the Spirit of God "works in us to will 
and to do." This sense of God and of 
eternal things, leads to repentance and re- 
formation. 

DRAWINGS OF THE FATHER. 

Pious emotions come not from human 
nature. There is nothing good in the na- 
tural heart. Man is totally fallen. "In 
me — that is in my flesh — dwelleth no good 
thing." But this fear of God and univer- 
sal religious sentiment is a good thing. It 
must therefore come from God, the source 
of all goodness. It is from Him who 
"would have all men to be saved and come 



72 a pastor's legacy. 

to the knowledge of the truth." Christ 
says — "My Father worketh, hitherto and 
I work." What a mercy. He works with 
you, with all. This explains that sense of 
his fear of which we have spoken and that 
you have experienced all your life. 

Perhaps you did not know before, that 
God was continually about your path, act- 
ing on your heart, leading you to repent- 
ance. If you see it now, I hope you will 
never hereafter forget it. 

Remember always, that it is God silently 
urging you to a sense of your duty. It is 
the drawing of the Father. The blessed 
Saviour says "no man cometh unto me ex- 
cept the Father which hath sent me draw 
him." This was called by Divines of the 
old school, preventing grace : because they 
saw that there was a Divine influence act- 
ing on all men from their youth up, which 
tended to prevent them from crime. You 
have seen this in others, and have felt it 
on yourself. It brings the flush to the 
countenance of the young lady, when in 






FEAR OF GOD. 73 

her presence any improper word is uttered. 
It causes the child before his retiring at 
evening, to utter his tiny prayer, fearing 
thus to close his eyes until he has discharged 
his duty to God. It is no small part of 
that conservative influence which prevents 
violence in times of public excitement. 
Very often would passion riot in blood, in 
dense populations, were it not for this re- 
straining grace. Men frequently ascribe it 
to human nature, but it is all of God. 

The Saviour teaches that no man would 
care for his eternal interests were it not for 
this drawing. Most of the difference be- 
tween persons in early or late piety is to be 
traced to their resistance or yielding to this 
influence. Cultivating the wooings of this 
fear deepens emotion and leads to Christ as 
the only relief to burdened minds, while, 
resistance hardens. 

Cultivate the emotion and you are soon 
found in the way of life. Resist and ut- 
terly reject it, and you become hardened. 
If you believe these teachings you are able 
7 



74 A pastor's legacy. 

to account for the difference between men 
who are raised under similar circumstances. 
The one seems to be taken and the other 
left. The one is pious, the other is careless 
and wicked. Both were naturally tender 
and susceptible, both were drawn by the 
Father. The one followed his leading and 
was saved; the other fought against it, 
rejected it from a place in his mind and as 
a consequence will in all probability lose 
his soul. God has not left himself without 
a witness in your own breast of his influ- 
ence exerted in your heart in early life. 
You could not come to Christ without this 
drawing. Through your entire life, like 
your own shadow has this feeling of duty 
to God followed you. It is God drawing 
you to a pious life. When you heed it, 
and attempt to secure and live in a good 
conscience, you will find it so difficult, so 
utterly impossible in yourself, that it will 
lead you to seek refuge in Christ as the 
only source of spiritual life. 

Let me warn you against making the 






HOLY SPIRIT. 75 

very common mistake of flying to the use 
of outward ordinances alone, to satisfy this 
feeling. Baptism, attendance on the means 
of grace, and consorting with professors, 
are all good and useful, and are all required 
in maintaining a life of piety. But they are 
not Christ. "They cannot make the 
comers thereto perfect, as pertaining to the 
conscience." The atoning Christ Jesus can 
alone pardon and w T ash away sin. To him 
all must come for relief. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

The Saviour said the Holy Spirit, when 
he came, should " reprove the world of sin, 
of righteousness, and of judgment." And 
the Apostle says, " a portion of the Spirit is 
given to every man to profit withal." We 
are also cautioned against quenching the 
Spirit. Taking all these Scripture quota- 
tions together, they clearly indicate to us 
the Divine influence at work for the salva- 
tion of all men. " It is God who worketh 
in us, to will and to do." The most care- 



76 a pastor's legacy. 

less one, and who seems to be entirely with- 
out conscience or emotion, is nevertheless 
acted upon by the Holy Spirit. He feels 
the call of God. He may hide it, resist it, 
drive it away. God compels no man. He 
may plunge into open sin still deeper, in 
order to harden himself against its power, 
and be the more free from its restraints. 
This is often done. You yourself may 
have been guilty of this. But it is sad to 
think of the fearful account all such must 
render hereafter. "He that being often 
reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall sud- 
denly be destroyed, and that without 
remedy." Are not many of the sudden 
deaths occurring about us to be accounted 
for in this way ? It is certainly a fearful 
thing to resist God. " Woe to him that 
striveth with his Maker." All therefore 
have an opportunity. All are acted upon. 
None are without the fear of God — the 
drawings of the Father — the operations of 
the Holy Spirit. I have conversed with 
thousands not trained in pious families, 



ALL ARE CALLED. 77 

and never have found one who had not 
felt these influences. If there is none, as I 
affirm ; then the question is settled that 
God wills the salvation of all men. If any 
one is lost, and at last sinks to hell, how 
greatly will it increase his misery, by a 
reflection on the past; in that how God 
worked upon him by the Spirit ; how near 
he was to the church, and how often he 
was advised, cautioned, and warned. 

ALL MEN ARE AT FIRST ORTHODOX. 

Men may differ in their notions because 
of educational or natural peculiarities. But 
in this connexion what I mean by orthodoxy, 
is, a belief in the great doctrines of immor- 
tality of the soul, responsibility for the 
conduct of the present life, a future judg- 
ment, heaven for the good and holy, and 
future torment for the wicked. In all 
these you steadfastly believe — neither can 
you shake it off. You believe you are to 
live forever in bliss or woe, but in which 

of the two you do not know. You often 
7 * 



10 . A PASTOR S LEGACY. 

feel as if you would give a large amount 
of treasure if any one could settle that 
question to your satisfaction. It has fre- 
quently troubled your mind during many 
years. 

" Who can resolve the doubt 

That tears my anxious breast, 
• Shall I be with the damned cast out, 

Or numbered with the blest ?" 

Often when you have tried to drive all 
thoughts of the future from your mind, 
some unforeseen event, an accident, or the 
death of some loved one has called you 
peremptorily back to thoughts of the future 
and unseen world. And with these thoughts 
has also returned your anguish to torment 
you. Personal affliction has also in the 
Providence of God been a means to remove 
your stoicism. Then most frightfully has 
loomed up the future, producing a deep 
concern for your own safety. It was then, 
that the burden of sadness has pressed you 
down. You dreaded the future, because it 
looked dark and ominous. This would 



ALL ARE CALLED. 79 

not have been the case had your heart have 
been right, and the peace of God ruled in 
your conscience. You do not — you cannot 
doubt, but that heaven is a prepared place for 
a prepared people. God, angels, and glori- 
fied saints are holy, and cannot have fellow- 
ship with the unholy. Nothing that is un- 
holy can enter there. 

Not all the Universalists in the world 
with their criminal sophistry can make you 
believe otherwise. Belief is compelled in 
your own mind from the fact of the deep 
moral conviction that is resting there. It 
is hard, extremely hard to be an infidel, or 
even a doubter, where there is so much 
feeling and so much at stake. 

Nor are unconverted, unrenewed men, 
prepared for the employments of heaven, 
any more than for the place itself. 

We may not fully know what is said or 
done in the world of bliss. Paul heard it, 
but dare not recite it, deeming it unlawful. 
But surely no one will believe that they 
profane the name of God, or use improper 



80 A pastor's legacy. 

language toward each other. All is sweet- 
ness and love in the mansions of the 
good. 

How then could the profane and wicked 
enjoy heaven, if they were even admitted 
within its sacred portals. You can plainly 
see they would be wretched, more so than 
they were upon earth. In this world they 
moved in society that was pleasing to them, 
that suited their taste ; there they are stran- 
gers, to the songs and praises, the language, 
feeling, and enjoyments. To such persons 
heaven would be a hell. Who can help 
feeling the force of this truth ? 

Only yesterday, I saw a sick man, who 
indulged the idea that all men would be 
saved without respect to their previous con- 
duct. A few questions were put to him 
respecting the employment of those in the 
upper temple. He replied correctly — " in 
worship and in praise." I asked him if 
he had a taste for worship and praise, or 
if he was accustomed to it. He said noih- 



HEAVEN FOR THE HOLY. 81 

ing. He evidently had not thought of that 
before. Neither perhaps have you. 

My dear friend, think of these things in 
time. On the bed of sickness and death, 
it may be too late. Habits must be formed, 
tastes cultivated, worship and praise en- 
joyed here, then, it will be enjoyed there. 
They sing in heaven, " Unto Him that loved 
us and washed us from our sins in his own 
blood, to him be glory, and dominion for- 
ever." This is the burden of their unceas- 
ing song. The great company that no man 
could number whom John saw before the 
throne, "cried with a loud voice saying, 
' Salvation to our God which sitteth upon 
the throne and to the Lamb.' And all the 
angels stood round about the throne, and 
about the elders, and the four beasts, and 
fell before the throne on their faces, and 
worshipped God saying ' Amen ; Blessing, 
and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving 
and honor and power and might be unto 
our God forever and ever.' " Are you or 
is any unrenewed man fitted for such em- 



82 a pastor's legacy. 

ployment? They sang praise for the wash- 
ing of regeneration and the renewing of 
the Holy Ghost. Have you been thus 
washed or renewed ? You would in such 
society be a stranger. Unaccustomed to 
such employment and such company here 
on earth, it would to say nothing more be 
unpleasant there. You could not join in 
their songs of praise. I repeat it, Heaven 
itself could he be admitted to that place 
would be a hell to him who died in his 
sins. 

What would be the feelings of an unlet- 
tered man in a company of astronomers, as 
they conversed of the mighty movements 
of the heavenly spheres ? The revolution 
of the earth, changes of the moon with all 
the wondrous facts taught in astronomical 
science? For a time he might sit in dumb 
silence listening to their calculations, then 
retiring, he would seek more congenial so- 
ciety, company more suited to his own scale 
of being. That would be precisely the 
condition in which an unrenewed sinner 






WASHING OF REGENERATION. 83 

would be found, and the course he would 
unavoidably take. The society of the holy 
and the blood-washed would be a torment 
to him, who had spent all his days in folly 
and sin, his habits formed and trained in 
the company of the Godless and the gay, 
the profane and wicked. The language of 
heaven would be unintelligible. You must 
admit this conclusion. Your judgment ap- 
proves it. How can you evade the force 
of its truthfulness and power by the inter- 
vention of any sophistry? How can you 
rest with any sense of security whatever, 
knowing that you are immortal and must 
live forever either in heaven or in hell ? 
Your carelessness and sin is nothing but a 
fatal delusion induced by habit and the ex- 
ample of multitudes around you, and with 
whom you associate. Time flies, God calls, 
eternity and the realities of which I have 
been speaking are nearing you as day crowds 
upon day. Habits of sin grow stronger 
by indulgence. The powers of the will in 
the execution of the decisions of the judg- 



84 a pastor's legacy. 

ment are daily becoming more enervated. 
The chain by which you are bound is hourly 
becoming stronger. Every succeeding hour's 
delay in your case, renders repentance and 
a change of heart more difficult, and your 
salvation less likely ever to be effected. 
Now, it is difficult to change from a life 
of sin, to one of piety and holiness because 
of the force of habit and the fear of your 
associates, but with all this in consideration, 
is it not more reasonable to suppose that 
the habit will be of greater strength, the 
next month or the next year ? 

Do you wonder then at the urgent re- 
quests of your parents and those who love 
you best ? Do you wonder at their tears 
and sadness, as they weep over your careless 
delay ? Do you deem it strange that the 
church and its ministers, speak to you so 
frequently in relation to your soul ? They 
see and feel the truth of the thoughts con- 
veyed in these remarks, whilst you do not. 
Well may the Holy Ghost ask you, " Why 



YOU MUST FEEL YOUR CONDITION. 85 

will you die?" You and your friends have 
reason for deep concern. 

YOUR CONDITION MUST BE SEEN AND FELT. 

There is no true change without this. 
Do you inquire, what must I do to be 
saved ? In what spirit do you ask it ? 

There are two ways of doing everything. 
The question may be sincere, but not ab- 
sorbing; sometimes it is both; then the 
inquirer is not far from the kingdom of 
heaven. 

Such was the condition of the Publican, 
when he smote on his breast in self-con- 
demnation. See the sudden result, "He 
went down to his house justified." This 
is the most important question that was 
ever asked by man. 

" How shall man find his Maker, 
With what rites adore him, 
Does he hear — accept and Mess, 

Or does he sit regardless of his works ?" 

WHAT MUST I DO? 

Ancient heathen are represented to have 



86 a pastor's legacy. 

thus asked the question. They had no 
Bible to furnish a reply. It is a question 
that every man asks himself, several times 
during his life. Training or education 
may weaken or intensify the feeling that 
prompts, but cannot wholly obliterate it. 
The heart of every man as well as all his- 
tory pay to this great truth a full tribute. 
What signify the vast number of churches 
in city and country ? The multitudes who 
attend them and listen to the gospel, prayer, 
and praise prove there is concern. 'Tis 
not only to secure a present good, but to 
guard against a future evil. Every man 
feels that he is responsible for his own soul. 
To his Master he must stand or fall. All 
will be judged according to the light they 
have received. "Those having not the 
law are a law unto themselves, which show 
the work of the law written in their hearts ; 
their conscience also bearing witness, and 
their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or 
else excusing one another." 

Momentary forgetfulness may be induced 



CHRIST ALONE SAVES. 87 

by worldly business, company, or foolish 
amusements. These may and often do in- 
toxicate and bewilder men. But this can- 
not continue long. The sense of immor- 
tality within every man, acted on by the 
Holy Spirit will again bring up the ques- 
tion. 

The fact that you now have the feeling 
that leads you to inquire " What must I do 
to be saved," proves it. 

The rich and poor alike feel the drawings 
of the Father. They both draw, 

" Sigh for sigh in fate so distant, 
In complaint so near." 

The one is not content with his vast 
possessions and life of luxurious ease, the 
other is wretched and quarrels with his 
hard fortune. Though both make the 
effort to be happy, yet neither succeed. 

CHEIST ALONE SAVES. 

In what way can we account for this ? 
Was it so designed at first ? Can you be- 
lieve that the benevolent Creator of the 



88 A pastor's legacy. 

world willed it so originally ? I doubt if 
any one can so think. No ! it is our sinful 
condition that causes it. Man was not 
thus made to struggle, with discontent, dis- 
aster, and misfortune. 

This state of things, however, verifies 
Bible history. God created man, upright 
and holy, but he fell into sin, lost the Di- 
vine image, and with it all his happiness. 
He was intended to hold communion with 
the Author of his being, walk with nature 
and enjoy life. How sadly different is it 
with us now; your own experience can 
testify. "The carnal mind is enmity 
against God, for it is not subject to the law 
of God, neither indeed can be." Then of 
yourself you cannot cure this moral malady. 

" No bleeding bird or bleeding beast, 
Or hyssop branch, nor sprinkling priest, 
Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea, 
Can wash the dismal stain away." 

But what you cannot do yourself, grace 
can do for you. There is a Divine remedy 
for all your woes. " God is in Christ re- 



CHRIST ALONE SAVES. 89 

conciling: the world unto himself." "To 
as many as received him, to them gave he 
power to become the sons of God, even to 
as many as believed on his name." This 
being a vital point, I trust I will be par- 
doned for introducing other passages from 
the Holy Scriptures. " He bore our sins 
and carried our sorrows, the chastisement 
of our peace was upon him, and by his 
stripes we are healed." " All we like sheep 
have gone astray, but the Lord hath laid 
upon him the iniquity of us all." Hence, 
says Christ, " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor, and are heavy-laden, and I will give 
you rest." We have seen that all men are 
laboring under a burden of wretchedness. 
Neither have they the power in them to 
free themselves. But Christ here promises 
to do it so that they may have rest. He 
further says, " I am the way, the truth, and 
the life, no man cometh unto the Father 
but by me." " He that believeth on the 
Son hath everlasting life, and he that be- 



90 A pastor's legacy. 

lieveth not the Son shall not see life, but 
the wrath of God abideth on him." 

The whole scheme of salvation is con- 
tained in these Scriptural quotations. I 
have therefore recited them together to im- 
press upon you the true and only remedy 
for all your miseries. There is no other 
remedy. Here is truth of a saving char- 
acter. Thousands can testify to its power. 
Thousands have passed to the spirit land 
with songs of gladness, because they had 
placed their feet on this strong rock. All 
hopes based on baptism early or late in 
life, with much or little water, or on con- 
firmation by holy hands, or the use of di- 
vine outward ordinances, will fail you. 
The young man who came to Christ was 
sincere and had kept the commandments. 
He yet lacked one thing. I know not how 
many others have tried the same means, 
without success. Doubtless a great multi- 
tude. 'Tis a great truth we often sing, 

" Jesus my Lord thy blood alone, 
Hath power sufficient to atone, 



EXAMPLES. 91 

Thy blood can make me white as snow, 
No Jewish types could cleanse me so." 

But you have been reared and educated 
in a Christian land — perhaps in a pious 
family. You are therefore aware of all 
these things. It is your creed — your faith 
— you have never believed otherwise. Yet 
you are unsaved. The orthodoxy of your 
opinions has not saved you. Groping in 
darkness, doubt, and sin, your misery still 
continues. You may not be as wickedly 
disposed as many others, but of one thing 
you are certain, you are not happy. You 
may attend some church ; I trust you do. 
All men should do this. It can do no 
harm — nay it must do some good. But do 
not be misled, or allow yourself to think 
that correct notions, and outward forms of 
worship will save you. That would be 
making a fatal use of a good thing. The 
fallen — carnal heart — is not — cannot be 
changed and renewed but by faith in Christ 
as your Saviour and Redeemer. 

Cornelius the centurion did all these 



92 a pastok's leqacy. 

things and much more. " He gave much 
alms to the people and prayed to God al- 
ways." Yet was he less happy than any 
soldier under his authority. But when 
Peter came and opened up the gospel sys- 
tem, the shadows and darkness fled away 
and the joy of the Lord filled his soul. 
All this was written for our learning. It 
teaches that no moral virtues, works of 
mercy, or even much prayer, can save, 
though they are all good in themselves. 
That Christ alone received by faith can 
justify, and deliver from the power of sin 
and death under which we labor. It teaches 
more ; that the moral change wrought in 
us by the Holy Ghost is instantaneous. It 
comes as quick as thought, the moment you 
apprehend Christ as your atoning Saviour. 
Light then illumines the whole soul. Fear 
gives way to confidence and trust : and as 
in the case of Cornelius, the joy of the 
Lord fills the heart with gladness. 

Now you see the true remedy for your 
woes. It is the only remedy. Why have 



REASON OF YOUR FAILURE. 93 

you not seen it before ? Most likely be- 
cause you have sought it by " the works of 
the law and not by the hearing of faith." 
Or perhaps you have not thought of it as 
every candidate for the eternal world should 
think. "Not by works of righteousness 
w T hich we have done, but according to his 
mercy he saved us, by the washing of re- 
generation and the renewing of the Holy 
Ghost." 

It may be that you have vainly tried to 
maintain a blameless life and a good con- 
science without this renewing. This is 
your fault, and the reason of your failure. 
And where is the advantage ? 

You still cry " O wretched man that I 
am — who shall deliver me ?" Before men 
you may continue your struggles that you 
may keep up appearances ; but it is a hope- 
less, cheerless effort. The tide of fallen 
nature and of corrupt inclinations has been 
and ever will be too strong for successful 
resistance, "so that you cannot do the things 
that you would." 



94 A pastor's legacy. 

There is but one right road to a true and 
lasting peace. " Except a man forsake all 
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." 
" If any man will come after me, let him 
deny himself — take up his cross and follow 
me." " Let the wicked forsake his way, and 
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let 
him return unto the Lord and he will have 
mercy upon him, and to our God for he 
will abundantly pardon." 

YOU NOW INQUIRE, " WHAT MUST I DO ?" 

If you are convinced of sin, the reply is 
easy. All that I have before said, was to 
open the way to this question. 

The most profane man you meet on the 
street wishes to be saved, but he takes no 
step in the right direction. His good de- 
sires therefore, are of no practical benefit 
to him. It is an old saying that "hell is 
paved with good intentions." "He that 
doeth his will shall know of the doctrine 
(or teaching) whether it be of God or 
whether it be of men." " Be ye doers of 



DO YOU FEEL YOUR DANGER 95 

the word, and not hearers only, deceiving 
your own souls." Some might reply to 
your question in this way, go to confession 
— obey the priest, do penance, observe the 
fasts and feasts, pray to the Virgin and 
reverence the mass. In reply to such coun- 
sels, I would ask, are they according to the 
doctrines of the Old or New Testament ? 
Does Christ, or do any of his apostles, so 
direct inquirers for the true way of life ? 
Go yourself to the New Testament. Take 
no man's word in a matter of such infinite 
moment. Determine not to be misled. 

See how Mary Magdalene obtained re- 
lief. How Saul fasted and prayed three 
days and nights alone. 

How Lydia received Christ by faith 
while Paul preached. These facts given 
by the Spirit of inspiration, read and deeply 
pondered, will blow away as chaff the fool- 
ish teachings of Romanism. 

DO YOU NOW SEE AND FEEL YOUR DANGER? 

Christ came to seek and to save the lost. 



yb A PASTOR S LEGACY. 

Do you feel yourself utterly lost and con- 
demned ? I know you are in that condi- 
tion and so do your praying friends. But 
you must feel it to be so, in order to assist 
you in taking the right course. He who 
does not feel his sickness refuses unpalatable 
remedies. So will you decline all God's 
prescriptions, until you both see and feel 
yourself to be a lost sinner. It is when a 
man is drowning that he exerts all his 
powers and calls loudly for help. The 
multitude on the day of Pentecost, never 
cried out " what shall we do," until they 
were convinced of sin and felt their own 
helplessness. From this awakened sense 
of loss and danger, comes true repentance 
and Godly sorrow for sin. 

I have sometimes thought that the present 
generation, hardly knew the nature of a 
true awakening. Am I right, or am I 
wrong ? It is certainly true that in most 
cases coming of late under my observation, 
where persons seem to be sincerely inquiring 
for the way of life, there appears to be a 



GENUINE AWAKENING. 97 

lack of that deep sense of guilt formerly 
characteristic of true seekers of salvation. 

They desire to be good and wish to asso- 
ciate with the people of God. Orthodox 
in their opinions, they believe all that the 
Bible says concerning the fallen state of 
man, and their necessity of a change of 
heart. They know and feel they are with- 
out this. And a*s a consequence feel that 
they are not altogether in a safe condi- 
tion. 

They believe and confess religion to be a 
good thing, and that all should have it be- 
fore they die. They come therefore as in- 
quirers seeking the comforts and blessings 
of a pious life. But the deep, pungent, and 
bitter feeling of true condemnation for sin; 
the "fearful looking for of judgment that 
devours the adversary;" the well-known 
cry, " O wretched man that I am, who shall 
deliver me ?" " I am carnal — sold under 
sin ;" " That which I do I allow not, for 
what I would that I do not, but what I 
hate that I do, to will is present with me, 

9 



98 A pastor's legacy. 

but how to perform that which is good I 
find not." To this deep feeling they are 
strangers. 

I say, this sense of sin and inability 
to perform that which God requires, does 
not of late years seem to characterize in- 
quirers. And as a result, conversions lack 
the clearness and joy of former days. All 
men of experience in the church must have 
seen this. Probably the reason of it is 
found in the fact that the fallen and dan- 
gerous condition of man is not dwelt upon 
in the pulpit as much as formerly ; and as 
a consequence the true state of the heart is 
not seen or felt as it should be. Genuine 
and deep awakening is essential to a true 
spiritual change. It cannot well exist 
without it. Piety cannot dwell where the 
heart is not subdued and the carnal mind 
destroyed. "The carnal mind is enmity 
against God, is not reconciled to the law of 
God, neither indeed can be." This will 
not die without a struggle, and of course 
the effort will not be made for its destruc- 



GENUINE AWAKENING. 99 

tion until the necessity for it is seen and 
deeply felt. When it is so seen and felt 
the man is said to be awakened. He is in 
sin, and the law thunders out its anathemas, 
" The soul that sinneth it shall die." He 
is a wretched man ; probably not worse 
than he had been for years, but he never 
saw himself before. Now he knows how 
true is the language of Scripture, for it 
exactly describes his own case. " There is 
no peace to the wicked." He is like the 
" troubled sea, when it cannot rest." He 
has no peace night nor day. Company and 
amusements once charmed him, but they 
are now undesirable, nay they are even 
repugnant. His tastes are all changed, and 
he seeks the company of the pious and 
praying. He dreads the Divine justice and 
pleads for mercy. " Be merciful unto me 
O Lord, and pardon my sin for it is great." 
Such was the condition of the Publican. 
Such was the experience of Saul in Damas- 
cus, or he would not have remained there 
three days and nights in fasting and prayer. 



100 a pastor's legacy. 

The multitude on the day of Pentecost were 
equally awakened to see their moral condi- 
tion, or (being professors of religion) they 
would not have cried out, " Men and bre- 
thren, what shall we do ?" 

God has graciously favored me with the 
privilege of witnessing many revivals of 
religion during my ministry. That in 
Morristown, New Jersey, in 1828, was the 
most remarkable; continuing some four 
months, until six hundred souls were saved 
by the power of Divine grace. The awak- 
ening and sense of sin was such as to cause 
a suspension of all business for several days 
together, Business houses were closed, be- 
cause none were found in their usual places. 
All were in their rooms "mourning apart." 
Nor could they be comforted until the 
Spirit of God witnessed with their spirits 
that they were born into a new spiritual life. 
Their agony of spirit was so terrible as to 
distress their friends. The excitement was 
nearly as extensive, and in some cases as re- 
markable as those that recently occurred in 



AWAKENING. 101 

the North of Ireland. As is usual in all such 
occurrences, conversions were clear and sat- 
isfactory, a religious outset greatly to be 
desired, and always influential on the after 
life. An infidel was present on one even- 
ing, ridiculing the several hundreds of peni- 
tents who were seeking for pardon, and on 
the next evening was more distressed than 
any other in the church. 

Now, my dear friend, allow me to be 
personal. Have you been thus awakened 
to a sense of your lost condition as a sinner ? 
This is the burden that Bunyan represents 
all as carrying, when they flee from the 
city of destruction, in their attempt to reach 
the celestial city. This is the sure entrance 
upon the king's highway of holiness. 

Have you thus been burdened with a 
sense of sin ? All your natural or educa- 
tional advantages will not avail you, or pre- 
vent the necessity of this deep and hum- 
bling sense of sin and condemnation. The 
rich and the poor, the learned and the 
illiterate, are alike born in sin, and " chil- 
9 * 



102 A pastor's legacy. 

dren of wrath even as others." Sin must 
be abhorred in order to be forsaken. And 
this is quite impossible until the guilt is 
seen. 

But you do not thus see yourself, or 
truly feel the corruption of your natural 
heart. Yet you desire to be pious and 
good, and therefore naturally inquire if 
this deep sense of sin is so essential, why 
do I not feel it. The reply is not difficult. 
God is always willing and ever working : 
" A portion of the Spirit is already given 
you to profit withal." You are not left to 
yourself but have the "drawings of the 
Father." The Spirit promised by the 
Saviour "to reprove the world of sin, 
righteousness, and judgment," is already 
working with you " to will and to do." If 
this be not so, why are these good desires and 
hungerings for the bread of life ? They 
spring not from nature but from God. If 
you would fully yield yourself to their con- 
trol, the Holy Spirit " would lead you into 
all truth." " If any man will do his will 



AWAKENING. 103 

he shall know of the doctrine, whether it 
be of God, or whether it be of men." Have 
you done all the will of God as far as he 
has given you light ? If not the fault is 
in you. Have you consecrated yourself 
fully to his work ? This is an essential, 
and it is placed entirely within your power. 
There need be no delay. "Now is the 
accepted time, and now is the day of salva- 
tion." Have appointed times for prayer 
and social devotion, letting the mind be 
devoted to this single point, and the lips 
utter this one prayer, Lord show me my- 
self, the depths of my depravity, and the 
desert of my life of sin. Forget everything 
but this, I am a lost sinner and deserve 
condemnation and wrath. Pray for such 
views and feelings, until they come over 
your soul like the thunder cloud on Sinai. 
Read also the word of God, especially 
the twentieth chapter of Exodus, the fifth, 
sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew, 
with the second chapter of the Acts of the 
Apostles. Remembering all the time, that 



104 A pastor's legacy. 

neither God nor man have changed since 
these Scriptures were written. They there- 
fore apply to you as to all others. 

Never cease these prayers, and readings 
until your heart is all broken up and ten- 
der as the softened wax, ready to receive 
the seal of the Divine Image. Do not al- 
low yourself to be deceived in a matter of 
such infinite importance to your present 
and everlasting happiness. 

I very well know that in this as in the 
former case, others professing to be Godly 
may teach you differently. They may say 
" this deep concern this abject humiliation 
and self-abasement is not necessary in these 
days. This is the way they taught a few 
centuries since, but in this enlightened day 
the way is made much easier. Join the 
church and try to live the best you can is 
all that is required of you." Heed not 
such teachings if you desire to walk in the 
light and live free from condemnation. 
Every new doctrine is a false one. 



AWAKENING. 105 

" Here is the word, the grand criterion, 
That will all our doetrines prove." 

" If they speak not according to this word 
it is because there is no light in them." 
Christ says to some religious teachers, " I 
know you that ye have not the love of God 
abiding in you." " If the blind lead the 
blind, both fall into the ditch." As you 
expect to stand before the Judge of all the 
earth, remember what you have read, and 
see to it that no false teaching, no old ideas 
of religious duty, no prejudice of education 
in either Protestant or Catholic faith or 
opinions; no fancied baptismal regenera- 
tion, no pride in the excellence of your own 
moral virtues as honest and truthful per- 
sons, and above all no careless indifference 
or long continued evil habits, hinder you 
from seeking the light that blesses or the 
alarm that awakens to a full and true sense 
of your own sinfulness, depravity, and dan- 
ger, of the final loss of your immortal soul. 

The rich man of whom Christ speaks 
was doubtless a professor of religion, and 



106 



A PASTOR S LEGACY. 



good to the poor, or they would not have 
laid Lazarus at his gate. Yet he died as 
such men die around you every day, and 
not only died but " lifted up his eyes in 
hell being in torment." The foolish vir- 
gins imagined themselves good as they went 
in and out with the wiser ones ; but for 
want of true and genuine piety, the door 
was shut against them, at the last. They 
tried as thousands of others have since tried 
to graft upon the natural stock, piety and 
the graces of the Spirit. It was a failur: 
in their case and so will it be in yours. 
"Ye must be born again" says Christ; 
"except ye be converted and become as 
little children, ye cannot enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." Until men abhor 
themselves as sinful, corrupt and in a state of 
moral condemnation and ruin, the)' do not 
see the need of a change, or ever use the 
means to be free from the law of sin and 
death. All unregenerate men are sleeping 
away life's precious days and hours, and 
yet they dare to try to be content. Their 



COURAGE NEEDED. 107 

contentment is only false. ~No man is con- 
tent who is in a state of sin. The business 
of life, company, or the excitements with 
which they are connected serve as opiates, 
often drowning serious thoughts. Let a 
sudden death take place near them; an 
alarming dispensation of Providence, or a 
fever seize their person or family, then in- 
deed are they awakened to a sense of their 
peril. I speak strongly because I know it 
to be true. And your own experience con- 
firms the statement. 

Much of my active life has been spent 
in visiting the sick and the dying, and I 
have never found an unconverted man who 
thought himself about to appear before God 
but that he felt alarm. Then frankly they 
tell me of their former discontent when 
others believed them happy. They confess 
their lives to have been wretched because 
of the want of piety. I have seen many 
who were hopeful and who believed God 
would yet pardon and save. These have 
always craved prayer in their behalf. I 



108 A pastor's legacy. 

have also found others gloomy and despair- 
ing, repeating the sad words "it IS TOO 

LATE, IT IS TOO LATE." 

Many have been professed infidels. But 
I cannot recall a single case where a man 
has to his dying hour relied upon his skep- 
tical notions. There may be persons who 
do maintain them to the last, but I have 
never seen one. 

There is no reliance to be placed on opin- 
ions, as they do not alter facts. The sun 
shines whether men believe it or not, and 
the Bible is true whether or not it receives 
opposition from men. 

You may reply, as many others have 
done, we differ in opinion. Pray tell me 
how your opinions can change facts. God 
says you are born in sin. You know you 
have lived a sinful, unhappy life, and to 
all such God says "the wicked shall be 
turned into hell." And Christ says, "if 
ye die in your sins, where I am ye cannot 
come." Can your contrary opinion change 
these great and terrible facts ? I am thus 



OPINIONS CANNOT SAVE. 109 

urgent because of your danger, and because 
many fatally rely upon mere opinions, either 
received from persons more vile than them- 
selves or carelessly formed with little or no 
investigation. Is it safe or even wise to 
risk your eternal interests on such frail and 
ever-changing opinions ? Is it deemed pos- 
sible that the orthodox world for thousands 
of years is and has been mistaken, and you 
with a few others of as little thought and 
reading, are the only correct thinkers? 
Your own reason revolts at the thought. 

Beware my dear friend for whom Christ 
died. " Because there is wrath beware lest 
he take thee away with his stroke, then & 
great ransom cannot deliver thee." 

I know the importance of a clear 
sense of sinfulness. It is essential to a 
clear conversion and a useful life afterward.. 
The church contains useless drones who 
probably have never been fully brought 
to see themselves, and their own moral con- 
dition ; and it is for this reason that they 
10 



110 



A PASTOR S LEGACY. 



have never been earnest men in any reform- 
ins; work. 

Paul never would have been the earnest 
man he was but for the awful scene that 
aroused his soul, and his terrible sight of 
himself. All men of clear spiritual sight 
commenced in this way. 

You will never clearly feel a sense of 
pardon, until you deeply feel a sense of 
sin. The one follows the other as light 
follows darkness. I desire you to be an 
earnest joyful Christian, and would there- 
fore have you begin right. 

If you build on any other foundation 
your house may be on the sand. 



MAKE GOD YOUR PORTION. 

This is the first step in any course of 
piety. " Choose you this day whom you 
will serve." You must first be on the 
Lord's side or all attempts to change your 
course and habits will be fruitless. Half- 
way work is loss of time and leads to dis- 
couragement. Let me guard you against 



GOD YOUR PORTION. Ill 

it. Consider well your own character and 
moral condition. Your danger of the ut- 
ter loss of your soul by delay. The im- 
possibility of maintaining a moral character 
without a true change of heart : and that 
none but God can cause old things to 
pass away, and create you anew in Christ 
Jesus ; and that he never renews the person 
who is undecided; fully and unhesitatingly 
given up, to be altogether the Lord's, body 
and soul heart and life. Many make a fa- 
tal mistake here. They feel the need of a 
moral change. Looking around to see 
which of the denominations suits them 
best, they decide on the one that requires 
the least sacrifice, join it and become com- 
municants. Then they deem the warfare 
over, the work done, and according to their 
idea, they are fairly on the path to heaven. 
And what is still worse, after a few years in the 
use of church ordinances they deem them- 
selves true Christians. The foolish virgins, 
before referred to were among the wise, and 
yet they deceived themselves all through 



112 a pastor's legacy. 

life. Their awakening came alas too late, 
for the door of Paradise had closed against 
them. I know you have no desire to be 
of that number. 

You wish to be right, you wish to be 
safe. Then begin right. Consider fully, 
the value of your own soul ; redeemed 
by the blood of Christ but liable to be 
lost. Remember Christ's language to Mc- 
odemus, " Ye must be born again." Choose 
God for your portion and do it in a manly 
way, frankly, fully and without respect to 
the course or opinions of others. 

Dr. Franklin says "the eyes of our 
neighbors ruin us." A golden sentence, 
worthy a place in the parlor of every man. 
Every one feels the need of piety but fears 
to confess it. A man dislikes to take one 
step in the right direction, until some bolder 
one has led the way. Be advised to wait 
for no one, or for a general revival of re- 
ligion, when you think you will be only 
one of many, and when your course will 
call for no remark. Many thus try to hide 



OPEN CONFESSION OF PURPOSE. 113 

themselves in the multitude, that they may 
save themselves the reproaches of the vul- 
gar. The business is between you and God, 
and you should act promptly, and at once, 
even though you are alone. The prophet 
Jeremiah says, "the Lord is my portion 
saith my soul, therefore will I hope in 
him." He could not, neither can you fully 
hope in him, until he is your portion. It 
is a matter of choice. " Choose you this 
day, whom you will serve." jSo power 
will force you to a choice. Man cannot 
and God will not; you must decide the 
fearful issue for yourself. 

Remember that God will not accept a 
part of the heart and affections. He says 
" my son give me thy heart." It must be 
wholly his and for all time. 

CONFESS YOUR PURPOSE OPENLY. 

There is in this more importance than 
you may think. 

It is really one half the work required 
in one's giving himself to God. The fear 
10 * 



114 A pastor's legacy. 

of man will flee at once when you make 
known your intentions to those around you. 
It pledges you, to the cause and work of 
God. Years of silent attention to the place 
of worship will not do you the good that a 
few days of open confession would do. 
Silent resolutions, will leave you in a kind 
of neutrality, and you mil not find your- 
self identified with either party, the good 
or the careless. Eemember that God hates 
neutrality. His friends should be known 
of all men. 

The progress of religion in your neigh- 
borhood, the cause of God in general, and 
the comfort of your own soul demand an 
open avowal. You may walk in darkness 
for months, nay even for years, if not ut- 
terly lose your conviction, light and feeling, 
unless you are bold and frank in your pur- 
poses and avowals. Many have, without 
doubt lost their souls through this kind of 
fearfulness. 

And why need you fear to speak out 
plainly ? You may not yet be converted, 



OPEN CONFESSION OF PURPOSE. 115 

'tis true, but you are awakened, you feel 
the need of a change. This is as much 
.the work of God, as any subsequent work 
of the Holy Spirit. Why therefore should 
it not be acknowledged to his glory ? God 
demands it. It will act on others usefully, 
and will do more for you than anything 
else. My first reply would be should you 
sincerely ask what you must do to be saved, 
confess openly, freely, and fully, that which 
you now feel, and by the help of God in- 
tend to do. You will do this if you are 
really in earnest. I know of many who 
think they are possessed of this earnestness 
when in reality they have none of it. They 
deceive themselves and follow bad exam- 
ples, and as a consequence are misled. The 
result of this will be, that all true feeling 
will leave them, and they will settle down 
into a gloomy state of uncertainty ; or fall- 
ing back into open sin Will deny altogether, 
the power of Godliness. 

You are not willing thus to be misled. 
On your own heart and life at least, you 



116 a pastor's legacy. 

seek a piety of some force and effect. If 
this be the case, allow me to urge you to 
the right course. Bravely resist the fear 
of man, your natural timidity overcome 
by the power of the will. You praise bold- 
ness in others, why not practice it yourself? 
You believe in a clear witness ; a satisfac- 
tory sense of acceptance with God. You 
even want the joy of the Lord. I am glad 
if you do. All piety is unsatisfactory with- 
out it. Then why not take the right course 
and you will have it ? God is not a re- 
specter of persons. He has filled others 
with joyfulness. His Spirit has borne wit- 
ness to thousands, that they were made new 
creatures in Christ Jesus. But they took 
the bold course of open confession before 
men. If you desire their joyous evidence, 
you must take the same method. In no 
other way can you expect the joy of the 
Lord to make you "strong. 

This being a point so vital to your coua- 
fort, you will pardon me for pressing it 
still further. 



COURAGE REQUIRED. 117 

God will be honored by his friends. 
"He that honoreth me, will I honor." 
You want faith, and should pray for it ; 
but the timid and fearful rarely if ever 
have it. It is however quite easy of pos- 
session to the bold and outspoken. 

" The word is nigh thee, even in thy 
mouth, and in thy heart, the word of faith 
that we preach, that if thou shalt confess 
with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and be- 
lieve in thy heart, that God hath raised 
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 
According to the inspired Apostle confes- 
sion with the mouth is the first thing to be 
done. Openly speak to those about you of 
what you feel, what you need, and by God's 
assistance what you are determined to have. 
Let no fear of being singular, or of attract- 
ing the attention of the vulgar, prevent 
you from an open testimony for God and 
his work of awakening. 

Be the first in a social meeting to speak 
of what you feel. God will honor the 
effort, by imparting still deeper convictions 



118 A pastor's legacy. 

of need. He will do more than this, and 
will soon give you to feel the sense of your 
acceptance, then can you sing, 

" Come saints and sinners hear me tell, 
The wonders of Emmanuel 
Who saved me from a burning hell, 
And brought my soul with him to dwell, 
And gave me heavenly Union." 

REPENT HEARTILY OF ALL SIN. 

Conceal nothing ; bring out before God, 
your whole life of transgression. Disobe- 
dience to parents, profanation of the Sab- 
bath, neglect of public and private devo- 
tion, resistance to the workings of the Holy 
Spirit on your heart and conscience. Con- 
fess all to God, and before men. Reveal 
your whole heart. Manly confession of 
sin is a great duty, and a powerful aid to your 
acquisition of saving faith. If you do not 
feel the weight of sin, a frank confession will 
soon bring it. Prayer and fasting without 
this may be of no effect. Pray for a true 
sight of yourself as God sees you; that 



REPENT OF ALL SIX. 119 

your follies and vices may appear to you, 
in their real sinfulness. 

"We have seen that deep awakening is 
essential to clear conversion. It creates a 
contrast that marks the great transition. 
"He that hath much forgiven, loveth 
much." Then your life of piety will not 
be afflicted with doubt. You will not be 
likely to forget that " you were purged from 
your old sins. 

True repentance cannot well exist where 
the sins of heart and life are not fully seen. 
Don't wait in stupid idleness for God to 
show them to you. Seek the sight, pray 
for it, read the Scriptures, so that your im- 
pressions may be deep. If you cease not 
to pray for a sight of yourself, and the ex- 
ceeding sinfulness of sin, you will soon be 
a true penitent. 

You have no right to expect the pardon 
of sin without repentance and true sorrow. 
These must come first ; and God will give 
it in answer to prayer as he does all other 
blessings. You will not renounce all sin 



120 a pastor's legacy. 

till you hate it, nor can you hate, until you 
truly see it. Then you will confess and 
forsake, and not till then. Each succeed- 
ing step is connected with the one going 
before. Sight leads to feeling, to sorrow, 
to confession, and renunciation. 

Have hours for secret prayer and private 
meditations, and allow no calls of business 
to interrupt you. Better had you lose a 
little time or money than your soul. De- 
pend on God, more than on men, for the 
reason that God and you are the only ones 
interested. Good men may pray for, and 
aid you with counsel. But the work can- 
not be done by another. Be serious and 
not trifling. Keep away from foolish, 
company; guard against a trifling spirit. 
It will act like water on fire. Quench not 
the Spirit of awakening, lest it forsake you. 
" Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for 
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
also reap." 



FAMILY PRAYER. 121 

PRAY IN YOUR FAMILY. 

If you are the head of a family, begin 
family prayer at once. If you ask the 
question, "Must I do this before I am 
converted?" Yes, I answer, commence 
now. 

No person has a better right, none more 
likely to be fervent and sincere. ~No exer- 
cise will be more likely to lead you to the 
fountain of life. If it is a cross, so much 
the better for you. " If any man will come 
after me, let him deny himself, take up his 
cross and follow me." This direction of 
the Saviour is designed for just such cases 
as yours. It meets your condition precisely, 
and it only remains to be seen whether or 
not there be sufficient manliness in your 
purpose to lead you to this duty. 

On one occasion I met a timid man at a 
prayer-meeting, and counselled him thus, 
Go to your home after the services, take 
the Bible and read a brief passage. Then 
kneel and pray in the presence of your 
ll 



122 A pastor's legacy. 

family. He immediately replied, " I can- 
not do that. I should tremble so I could 
not speak." I know you think so I replied, 
but you are mistaken. God will aid the 
resolute and put strength in them. I said 
no more, and left him to his thoughts. I 
met him the next day— he ran hastily to- 
ward me, and grasping my hand with both 
of his hands, said, " I tried to do as you 
advised, my sins were soon pardoned, and 
I was filled with joy and peace. Prayer 
was turned into praise. My load of guilt 
was taken away, and I was indeed blest." 
For a number of years that man had been 
in a quiet way seeking the Saviour. Up 
to that hour his inquiries seemed to have 
been in vain. So it may have been with 
you. I have known thousands of such 
examples. A heavy cross is the burden of 
all such penitents. " No cross no crown." 
I know that nature will oppose it. The 
natural timidity of the heart will come in 
with its aid, whilst the easy religion of the 
present age will also throw around you its 



BELIEVE IN CHRIST. 123 

deadly influence. "Resist the devil and 
he will flee from you." " Draw nigh to 
God and he will draw nigh to you." That 
is to say, make the attempt in the right di- 
rection and Divine assistance will be 
vouchsafed. If you, however, are suffi- 
ciently in earnest you will make the at- 
tempt. How truly hath the wise man 
spoken ; " The full soul loatheth the honey- 
comb, but to the hungry soul, every bitter 
thing is sweet." 

BELIEVE IN CHRIST. 

"Whosoever believeth on the Son of 
God, hath the witness in himself." That 
is, he is justified, pardoned, and saved, and 
has within himself the witness of the Spirit 
of God. Repentance, properly speaking, 
is not a condition of salvation, but it is a 
condition of faith. What is meant by 
condition here, is, faith cannot exist without 
it. No one who is not truly and practi- 
cally a penitent can exercise faith in Christ, 
to his own salvation. 



124 A pastor's legacy. 

There is really but one kind of faith ; it 
may have different objects and varied de- 
grees, from simple opinion to Abrahamic 
trust. Faith or confidence is the founda- 
tion of all business. In trade, no one will 
trust the man in whom confidence cannot 
be placed. And all that God requires in 
order to your salvation is, a full and per- 
fect reliance on his word of promise. Not 
a doubt but that he will do as he has said. 
What has he said to all who weary of folly 
and sin, come unto him for rest, " Come 
unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy- 
laden, and I will give you rest." You are 
the one intended in this promise, and you 
are to believe this. Then surrender your- 
self fully and without reserve to him, not 
Only for the present but for all coming 
time. Then believe that he is able and 
now willing to do what he has said he 
would do. Not that he will fulfill his pro- 
mise to-morrow, or when by a course of 
training you have made yourself ready for 
him to receive you. But now just as you 



BELIEVE IN CHRIST. 125 

are. It lies with him, to make you better, 
and the work is not yours. Risk yourself 
in his hands without a doubt of his faith- 
fulness. A merchant depositing his money 
in bank without a fear for its safety, has 
the necessary faith that precludes all thought 
of risk. In leaving your case with Christ, 
that is all required of you. Make the trial 
and your confidence will realize the com- 
fort sought. 

I need not darken counsel by words, a 
whole treatise on faith would not make it 
more clear. In this plain and brief defini- 
tion there are no abstractions. ? Tis all you 
require if you are a sincere penitent. There 
is little use of saying more if you are not. 
Faith, as was said before is impossible to 
all the impenitent. " If any man do his 
will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether 
it is of God or whether I speak of myself," 
with me as you perceive an old and oft-re- 
peated text. Are you now acting as far as 
your light goes ? On a cloudy or dark night 
you carry a lantern in your hand, but it 
11 * 



126 A pastor's legacy. 

enlightens your path only a few yards in 
your advance. All is dark beyond, but 
this does not discourage you, the light travels 
as fast as yourself, so that you are never in 
gloom. Thus will it be in the religious 
path upon which you are entering. God 
will not leave you in the dark if you are 
persevering and your will is fixed. You 
must be a "doer of the work" if you would 
be blessed in your deed. 

ACT QUICKLY. 

And that which you do, must be done 
quickly. Delays in all things are danger- 
ous, but especially are they so in religion. 
The Spirit of God will not always strive 
so powerfully. " If the light within you 
be darkness, how great is that dark- 
ness." Many persons delay until all de- 
sire leaves them. ? Tis dangerous to trifle 
with the work of God in your heart. It 
is of God that you have any feeling what- 
ever. Do not dare by any delay, to trifle 
with this feeling. 



MAKE KNOWN YOUR FEELINGS. 127 
AVOW YOUR FAITH AND CHANGE. 

This was necessary when you were a 
penitent seeker. It is even of more conse- 
quence, now. " When thou art converted 
strengthen thy brethren." Your former 
reticence greatly delayed your conversion. 
Hiding the light that is now within you, 
will soon bring you into doubt and dark- 
ness. Lights are not made for themselves 
but for the benefit of others. Many are 
in darkness as you at one time were. God's 
plan is the saving of men by men ; giving 
light to some that they may enlighten others. 
Thus was it, in the first age of Christianity, 
as you may see in the Acts of the Apostles. 

Christ as well as the men he selected 
went about doing good and in like manner 
must you and I do, if we hope to retain 
our faith and piety. The man who buried 
his talent lost it, and was punished for his 
slothfulness. The passage of years has 
changed neither God nor Christianity. 
Timidity as it once did, may not exert over 



128 A pastor's legacy. 

you its power, and yet you will in a degree 
feel it. 

It must be overcome by a resolute will. 
A determined purpose to honor God. "He 
that honoreth me will I honor" is as true 
at the present time as it was when you were 
a seeker. Taking a manly course, you will 
show your faith by your works. Be pre- 
pared at all times "to give a reason for the 
hope that is within you in meekness and 
wisdom." Tell the story of your former 
darkness neglect and sin. Hide not an 
item of it, from those who are near you. 
Give them a full account of your sorrow 
for sin and hearty repentance and prayer 
for relief. And then speak of the gracious 
help vouchsafed you when you placed on 
Christ as your Saviour, all your reliance. 
Let it be candid, without admixture of 
complaint. Manner has much to do with 
usefulness and success. Be bold, frank, 
loving, and kind. If you have the joy of 
the Lord, it will make you strong, and will 
at once destroy the fear of man, and as it 



LACK OF TALENT NO PLEA. 129 

thus fires the heart, it will give eloquence 
to your lips. From the sincere and earnest, 
the aids of the Holy Spirit are never with- 
held, and it is in this way that God intends 
to convert the world. 

Do not I pray you, urge as an excuse 
that you are lacking in talent, time, or in- 
fluence in society. 

A little of any of these in which you 
deem yourself deficient will do much good. 
The humblest person has often done the 
most for God. As to your lack of time, 
how much of that does it require to speak 
to any one you may meet in the street, your 
place of business, or in the shop where you 
labor? On all other matters you talk 
freely: and I would not find fault with 
this — but why not as well extend your con- 
versation to piety, faith, and holiness ? It 
requires no more time, or talent, or influ- 
ence, to speak of religion than of matters 
of far less importance. If you neglect to 
speak and work for God, it will arise from 
shame and fear and not from any lack of 



130 



A PASTOR S LEGACY. 



ability or want of time. The common si- 
lence, and fear to make religion prominent, 
is the reason why the church has so little 
power among ungodly men. The work of 
the conversion of the world, has been long 
retarded, through this weakness of the 
church. And to descend to individual 
cases, I may safely say that your own piety, 
faith and joy will be hindered for a similar 
reason. By indulgence in this, many have 
made utter shipwreck of faith and a good 
conscience. You cannot well retain an 
awakened feeling, as a penitent without 
speaking to others of that feeling, much 
less can you keep piety and joy. How can 
you give light by an unmanly fear and tim- 
idity, that utters not a word for Christ? 
Just as binding on you is the command of 
the Master — " let your light shine" as are 
those other commands of God " thou shalt 
not kill"—" thou shalt not steal." 

How dare any man disregard it? Yet 
thousands do disregard it, and pass through 
a long life in the church, doing no good 



LACK OF TALENT NO PLEA. 131 

and making no mark. Their light burns 
dimly and on others reflects no ray. En- 
during religious profession as a cross, they 
have with Christ no joyful communions, 
neither have they a clear hope of future 
glory. How much preferable, more manly, 
more in accord with early example in the 
purer ages of Christianity to speak out 
openly, freely and cheerfully, of Christ and 
the work he has done, in suffering for, and 
personally delivering us from the bondage 
of sin and the power of darkness. 

There is sufficient talent in the church, 
this very hour, to set the world on fire, but 
it is not brought into use. It is hidden 
away, buried, and therefore useless. Can 
you consent to aid, as you now enter on a 
course of piety the vast numbers of use- 
less professors? Can you consent to be 
one of the dumb witnesses who only bear a 
silent and negative testimony to the value 
of religion ? I hope you will not. Keep 
in your mind the fact, that as you begin 
your religious course, so will you be most 



132 A pastor's legacy. 

likely to carry it to the end. Habit is 
everything. Start right, and it will be 
easy to continue, because all men will ex- 
pect it of you, then you will dislike to 
change, because it is natural for all men to 
fear reproach. Mr. Whitefield used to say, 
" God would allow him to die quietly ; be- 
cause all through life his mouth had ever 
been openly confessing Christ. It was the 
dumb Christians whom the Lord would 
compel to give evidence for him at the 
dying hour." 

WATCH and pray for a higher life. 

That this may be done, the tendencies 
of the heart must be carefully watched, lest 
they be unduly attracted toward earthly 
things. 

The daily struggle must be for a higher 
life, a more intimate communion with God. 
Merely guarding against sin, is a slavish 
life, yet a large class of professors, persuade 
themselves that they are living the Chris- 
tian life in aiming no higher than to remain 



USEFULNESS. 133 

clear from gross faults. At best this is 
only a negative piety, and is never fully 
satisfactory to any one. It may convince 
the outward world that such Christians are 
not bad men, but it requires a warm heart, 
a cheerful joy, and a love for the souls of 
others, to convince observers that we are 
in reality good men. Feeling is the 
prompter. He who daily lives for God 
and daily contemplates eternal things, 
usually has this feeling. Cold and in- 
different is he who drifts along among com- 
mon unambitious professors. There is an 
ambition in religion, as there is in common, 
every-day life. "One star differeth from 
another," in Christianity, in that the bright- 
ness of the one throws its rays abroad by a 
holy ambition while the other refuses to 
give light even for the home circle. Do 
not be unambitious in spiritual things. 
Such soon lose all internal evidences of 
piety, and forget that " they were purged 
from their old sins." This you desire to 
guard against. Christ says, " Every branch 
12 



134 A pastor's legacy. 

in me that beareth not fruit he taketh 
away." You see them drop out of the 
church every year, and it is too sad to tell, 
out of the active ministry also, when in full 
health, because the office called them to 
duties for which they had lost all taste. 
Why is this ? The fault is not in God nor 
in the church. Nor are they bad men in 
the common acceptation of the word. But 
losing their first love, they left off watch- 
fulness and prayer, and of course ceased to 
be useful. They bore no fruit, and the 
happening of some Providential circum- 
stance disconnected them from the church. 
They were cut off as dry and fruitless 
branches. 

Uselessness in God's vineyard I look 
upon as a crime, to be punished by the 
Great Judge in some w T ay. Hoarded 
wealth, unused in doing good when the 
wants of the world are so pressing, 
is sure to cause its owner much trou- 
ble, and be a terrible source of bitterness to 
him in age and feebleness. In fact I have 



USEFULNESS. 135 

seen many lose all they possessed in some 
unfortunate speculation, caused in my 
opinion, simply because they refused to use 
it in doing good. 

In such circumstances they rarely ac- 
knowledge the hand of God, but their sad 
fall and loss of property or position is 
charged upon some fellow-man, such men 
rarely condemning themselves. Thus living, 
and thus dying, what will be their future? 
" Men gather them and cast them into the 
fire, and they are burned," answers the 
blessed Saviour. The meaning of which 
is, that as men gather up and burn withered 
branches, so will the Great Judge of all 
gather, and burn, and destroy. This is the 
doom, fearful, but none the less certain of 
many who once entered the church, and 
" did run well for a season." I am not 
the author of this, but from the Great Au- 
thor of your salvation it comes as an eter- 
nal truth, and with a meaning that should 
appeal to our very hearts. 

You will say then it is not a matter of 



136 a pastor's legacy. 

choice, for a man to let his light shine or 
not shine, to labor and be useful or be in- 
dolent and unuseful ? I answer that by no 
means is it a matter of choice. The com- 
mand is imperative. " Let your light so 
shine before men, that they may see your 
good works, and glorify your Father which 
is in heaven." From a state of piety, he 
will surely fall who lives in idleness and 
pleasurable ease. As a fruitless branch he 
may be cut off, or he may continue singing 
and serving in some way in the church, 
until he actually deceives himself into the 
belief that he is really pious. " He that 
hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of 
his." 

Religion is love to God and men. " 'Tis 
not meats and drinks, but righteousness, 
peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost." The 
wearing of the image and likeness of the 
Master. 

After long observation and personal ex- 
perience, I am convinced that John Wes- 
ley was right, when he taught that no one 



USEFULNESS. 137 

was living correctly, or made proper ad- 
vancement in spiritual life, unless "his 
heart was filled with perfect love, or he was 
groaning after it." This may not be the 
precise language of Mr. "Wesley, but it is 
the sentiment. 

If I am not mistaken, the Apostle Paul 
teaches the same great truth, in the first 
verse , of the sixth chapter of Hebrews ; 
"Let us go on to perfection not laying 
again the foundation of repentance from 
dead works, and of faith toward God." 
Clearly intimating if it does not directly 
teach, that he who presseth not for the full- 
ness of God, or perfection in love, will lay 
the foundation for repentance by saying 
and doing that for which on further reflec- 
tion he has sorrow, and this will ever keep 
him in first principles — those of baptism, 
" laying on of hands," and other incipient 
rites. Persons recently converted are apt 
to think the struggle and warfare over. 

Some lose their first love and joy fulness, 
before they really awake to the stern duties 
12 * 



138 a pastor's legacy. 

of their position. Remember and keep 
constantly before you, " that the flesh lust- 
eth against the spirit" and a life of faith 
and piety requires a constant warfare. "It 
is not only given you, on the part of Christ 
to believe on. him, but also to suffer for his 
sake." A young man on entering upon the 
work of the ministry is instructed by the 
apostle " to fight the good fight of. faith, 
lay hold on eternal life." Can you then, 
be safe in ceasing "to press toward the 
mark of your high calling" — even to the 
ultimate fullness of entire sanctifi cation ? 
Holiness becometh the house of God. You 
will of course join the visible church, if 
you are truly converted. You cannot well 
avoid it, for all your attraction will lead 
you in that direction. It is also your duty. 
The sheep knoweth his shepherd, and never 
feels a sense of security unless he is in the 
fold. A refusal or delay to unite with the 
church of God is a sure evidence of want 
of piety. There you have the aids in seek- 



USEFULNESS. 139 

ing this higher life of purity, this steady 
communion with the precious Saviour. 

You have seen enough of a simple pro- 
fession without the power of Godliness. 
Be cautioned then against falling into the 
same lukewarm state. 

All history says, you will fall, unless you 
daily seek a higher life, a more steady fel- 
lowship with God. 

" Leave no unguarded place, 
No weakness of the soul. 
Take every virtue, every grace, 
And fortify the whole." 

As a penitent we have seen that you 
needed boldness and open confession of 
your feelings. As a truly regenerated per- 
son you were required to confess all that 
Christ had done for you, in order that you 
might retain it. In addition to this an 
open avowal of your need of entire purity, 
or testimony that you already possess it, 
will be equally necessary. God must, as 
was previously said be honored in all his 
work. He who allows fear and timidity 



140 a pastor's legacy. 

to retard him will neither be a shining 
Christian, a leading man in the church, 
nor a useful man in community, I will 
close this chapter by the concluding sen- 
tence in the last will and testament of 
Patrick Henry. 

" I have now disposed of all my property 
to my family ; there is one thing more I 
wish I could give them, and that is the 
Christian Religion. If they had this, and 
I had not given them one shilling, they 
would be rich, and if they had not that, 
and I had given them all the world, they 
would be poor." 



MEMBERS OF CHRIST'S CHURCH. 141 



CHAPTER III. 

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF 
CHRIST. 

You have been my friends, associates, and 
helpers in the work assigned us by the 
great Head and founder of the church. 
Allow me to address you in a true Christian 
spirit. Many with whom I have labored 
have passed away to their reward in the 
skies, and soon shall I follow them and be 
no more seen among men. To the man of 
God, Death should have no terrors; he 
should rather " desire a better country," 
whenever it should please God to call him 
home. To every good man " death is gain." 
But to one who has spent his entire life in 
trying to win souls, and lead them to Christ, 
the success of the work and the upbuilding 



142 A pastor's legacy. 

and prosperity of the church, is more dear 
toward the close of life than at any other 
period. This is true, at least in my case 
And knowing that " our sufficiency is of 
God," and remembering also that the Mas- 
ter has said " the branch cannot bear fruit 
of itself, except it abide in the vine, no 
more can ye except ye abide in me." " He 
that abideth in me, and I, in him, the same 
bringeth forth much fruit, for without me 
ye can do nothing." It is certainly rational 
and to be expected, that I should feel a 
strong desire, that those who follow after 
me should have all the elements, needed to 
ensure success in such blessed labor. 

As leaders, Christians and members of 
the church w T hich " Christ has purchased 
with his own blood" you are looked to by 
the outside world, for light, help and re- 
ligious instruction. 

You are called by the Saviour, and ought 
to be in truth "the light of the world," 
and the " salt of the earth." If the light 
that is within you, be darkness, how 



PIETY SAVES FROM JUDGMENTS. 143 

great is that darkness, and if the salt lose 
its savor it is thenceforth good for nothing." 
Daring my ministry having seen many of 
this class of members, who have lost their 
spirituality and fellowship with God, and 
of course their usefulness, I have ventured 
humbly to offer a few suggestions to such 
as still desire to be useful. 

If ten righteous persons would have saved 
a city devoted to destruction ; we may cer- 
tainly infer that it is the piety and prayer 
of devoted Christians, that now saves wicked 
cities from utter ruin. God is the same 
now that he was in the days of Abraham. 
Vice and sin are as hateful in his eyes as 
ever, and as deserving of Divine visitation. 
There is no doubt but that in many places, 
the crimes of the people fall but little below 
the degree of the inhabitants of the ruined 
cities of the plain. I need not pause to 
prove this : the recital would be unpleasant 
to you as well as to myself. You freely 
admit and often mourn over, it. Still, the 



144 A pastor's legacy. 

fires of wrath, do not fall on and consume 
our people. 

The reason may be, that there is more 
piety, prayer, and effort now, among pa- 
rents who have godless children, and good 
men generally, than at the former period. 

Prayer we know is not lost, although 
God may not always allow us to see its 
effects. It is placed in the golden censer, 
and some must feel its benefit if not now, 
in the future. 

These prayers may now be averting Di- 
vine judgments, and preventing their descent 
on the wicked and profane. The vain and 
ungodly are to-day more indebted, to pious, 
holy men than they may have any, idea. 
Good men should never weary or be dis- 
couraged in labor for the moral benefit of 
those about them, though their labor for 
the time may seem fruitless, it is not so 
in reality. If it is done sincerely and for 
the glory of God, its fruit will be seen 
hereafter. "God will raise it up at the 
last day." 



SOCIAL LABORS. 145 

SOCIAL LABORS IN THE CHURCH. 

These are common, and in our Metho- 
dist churches, general and constant. 

Our members are divided into classes, 
meeting on certain days and evenings in 
each week. Serious inquirers often attend 
them, and all the truly pious, feel for, and 
labor more or less, for their conversion. 
During the season of long evenings, it is 
also customary to hold prayer-meetings to- 
ward the close of divine service on Sabbath 
evenings when the membership, unite in 
prayer song and pious conversation, with 
such as may be inquiring. While in some 
churches, a series of meetings are held for 
a number of weeks with the special pur- 
pose of winning souls to Christ. These 
extra meetings as they may be called have 
become so common as to lose in the opinion 
of some much of the power that once at- 
tended them. 

In many cases they undoubtedly do good ; 
but they should not be relied upon. A 

13 



146 a pastor's legacy. 

remedy for a disease may for a time have 
great power, but by constant use may fail 
of its effect on the patient. 

Every man of experience knows, that 
labors sincere and well intended often de- 
generate into mere official duty. We may 
attend them because so much is expected 
of us, by those around us, and because the 
church has placed us in position and we 
may have some talent for such labor : but 
not because of any love for souls, or special 
zeal for the glory of God, or the salvation 
of those about us. 

The motive or actuating principle from 
which labor springs, is everything in the 
sight of God. It is possible for us "to 
sacrifice to our own net" and because of 
the want of a deep feeling of sympathy, 
pity and love for the perishing, our labors 
may be disowned of God and therefore 
fruitless. Present union with Christ by 
the possession of his Spirit, and having it 
within us, is according to this teaching the 
entire source of usefulness and success in 



SOCIAL LABORS. 147 

labor for the good of others. My dear 
brethren, this is the great lesson I desire to 
have deeply impressed on my own heart 
and yours. Not to have you do less in 
outward labor in the social means of grace, 
but to bring God nearer. To have a deeper 
sense of the solemnity of the work, because 
it is God's work, not ours. 

We are merely his agents, to act on those 
about us, and our success is in proportion 
to our communion with him, and the strength 
of his Spirit and power resting on us at 
the time. In no other sense can it be said 
our sufficiency is of God. We know, as 
well as every man of experience, and ob- 
servation knows, that Divine Service may 
be conducted for hours, and God not be in 
all or any of the thoughts of the apparently 
devout worshipers. Ritualism in some 
cases and habitual forms in others occupy 
the entire field of vision. 

This may all be done sincerely too from 
year to year without suspicion of defect. 
The worshipers the meanwhile wondering 



148 a pastor's legacy. 

why effects of awakening and serious in- 
quiry on the part of the ungodly do not 
follow. Our worship needs divine elec- 
tricity. The fire from God should fall on 
and consume the sacrifices we bring. Then 
as in the time of Elijah, the granite heart 
will melt and the non-combustible water 
will burn like oil. 

We hear much of the need of education 
and regularly trained ministers. Too much 
cannot be said in favor of mental culture 
and the acquisition of knowledge. If 
the mind be not cultivated, like fallow 
soil, it will produce noxious weeds. This 
is the case with ministers and laymen, 
always and everywhere. It is the superfi- 
cial unimproved mind in the church with 
whom we have always had the most trou- 
ble, and found it most difficult to manage. 
A minister who is not diligent among his 
books early aud late, improving all scraps 
or small portions of time, allowing none to 
be wasted, soon falls into contempt, and 
ceases to be useful. And more than this, 






SOCIAL LABORS. 149 

in a few years he becomes weary of his 
work, and after a while leaves it for more 
congenial employment. Earnestness in the 
acquisition of knowledge, is, in most cases, 
sure to increase a man's love for his work 
in the pulpit. He always has something 
to say, and loves to say it, because it is in 
his mind, and he wishes others to know it 
as well as himself. There is nothing 
in life more pleasant than this. And 
it gives a freshness and point to all he says, 
interesting to himself and all who hear 
him. A man who does not love study 
soon wearies and deems his work too hard. 
Most of our ministers are what the world 
calls uneducated men. But many of them are 
not a whit behind the most favored gradu- 
ates of colleges before they have reached 
middle life. Adam Clark educated him- 
self on circuits while performing the work 
of a pastor. Richard Watson was a me- 
chanic in early life, yet they both made 
their marks in the literary world. No man 
should be discouraged because in his early life 
13 * 



150 A pastor's legacy. 

his opportunities were small. Industry and 
persevering application overcome all diffi- 
culties. Earnest men at their books are 
usually earnest everywhere else. The self- 
educated are apt to be the most practical, 
and therefore best adapted to our work. 
A man who whiles away his precious time, 
soon loses self-control, and the power to 
interest his people, and after a few years the 
Conference finds it difficult to place him 
anywhere. 

In the Methodist church class-leaders 
are next to the Pastors the most important 
officers. Indeed they are Pastors in a 
sense most vital to the church. They have 
the care of souls for whom they must give 
account to the Judge of all men. They 
also should be close readers of everything 
relating to vital Godliness. I know they 
are mostly men of business and daily toil. 
But every man has his seasons of relaxa- 
tion from labor, and with a proper division 
of his time and care of these leisure mo- 
ments, he can have ample opportunity for 



SOCIAL LABORS. 151 

mental improvement. I once knew a shoe- 
maker who read Wesley's sermons all 
through in one winter, before day-light in 
the morning. He did it by reading one 
sermon carefully each morning, before the 
other portions of the family were up. He 
also went through Rollings History, and 
several biographies in the same way. You 
cannot keep such a man down in com- 
munity, no matter what were his disadvan- 
tages at the outset he must and will rise to 
honor and usefulness. 

But that which a Class-leader most needs 
is biographical information. The Bible is 
full of it, and all our libraries abound with 
it. The lives and history of those who 
have labored in a similar way with our- 
selves is indispensable to full success in our 
own work. Every Class-leader in our 
church should be perfectly familiar with 
the life of Samuel Hick, Henry Longden, 
and William Carvosso. These are all small 
books and can be read in a few days by the 
most busy and laborious. Then his read- 



152 A pastor's legacy. 

ing should be extended to the lives of Mr. 
Wesley, Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Watson, and a 
host of other honored men, both in Eng- 
land and in this country. This kind of 
reading is the best because it always leads 
to a desire to imitate their examples, and 
copy their many excellencies. A few of 
such books carefully read by each Class- 
leader, would in a short time be the means 
of quickening and infusing a new life into 
the entire membership. This course on 
the part of the Leaders is at present a great 
want with us. Every one of our mem- 
bers is bound as he must answer to God, to 
improve all the powers given him, and 
make the most of them for the good of 
those about him. 

To have good talents and powers of use- 
fulness, and leave them undeveloped and use- 
less all through life because of sluggish indif- 
ference, and non-reading habits is too common 
in all churches. I often look over a large 
congregation and think what a latent power 
is there, that never will or can be used for 



SOCIAL LABORS. 153 

the good of the world, because it never will 
be brought out. How many are willing to 
live uselessly, and die unmourned except 
by a few relatives? To an enlightened, 
earnest man who sees, feels, and fully real- 
izes the life that now is, and its bearing on, 
and connexion with that which is future, 
death is really preferable to living without 
doing good. 

Many an unsightly stone lies about ne- 
glected and uncared for, which if put in the 
hand of the lapidary and properly polished 
would shine most resplendently. Thou- 
sands of pebbles lie beneath the ocean 
which if brought up, and passed through 
the proper alembic, would give beauty and 
grace to the crown of a Monarch. 

" Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 
The unfathomed caves of* ocean bear, 
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its fragrance on the desert air." 

CLASS-MEETINGS. 

We are followers of Christ in the path 



154 A pastor's legacy. 

pointed out by Mr. Wesley. His teachings 
are not Divine, but we believe them true, 
wise, and according to Scripture. Then 
let us follow them ; " not try to mend our 
rules, but keep them." The social means 
of grace with us, are vital parts of the 
system. They require us to attend the 
class to which we are attached, or in other 
words, with us religious conversation with 
each other is deemed essential to piety. 
" They that feared the Lord spake often 
one to another." Shall I say that he who 
has no taste for this means of grace has no 
piety ? has not the love of God abiding in 
him? This perhaps is not required, and some 
may say, that it is not true. But I will say the 
communion of saints in some form of reli- 
gious conversation is essential to the main- 
tenance of true piety, and a daily sense of 
acceptance with God in any and every 
church — and he who neglects it for want 
of taste for it, was either never truly con- 
verted, or has failed of the grace of God. 



CLASS-MEETINGS. 155 

You will doubtless hear many condemn 
this remark as uncharitable. 

I have said before that which you all 
know, that many are utterly mistaken as 
to their spiritual condition, and may 
never find it out until summoned to the 
judgment seat. Mr. Wesley somewhere 
says that if one hundred persons were 
truly and soundly converted to-day, and 
not a word was said to them, nor they for 
one year were to communicate a word of 
personal experience to others, there would 
be but few among them who would enjoy 
the witness of the Spirit at the end of the 
year. I quote from memory, but that is 
his teaching. Fully believing this from 
personal observation, to me it does not 
seem wonderful that he made class atten- 
dance a test of membership in the church. 

I cannot deny myself the pleasure in 
this connexion of inserting a few paragraphs 
from the British Standard, a periodical 
representing another denomination, but 



156 a pastor's legacy. 

clearly seeing the power and great useful- 
ness of our system of class-meetings. 

" The benefits of the class as conducted 
in England can scarcely be overrated. To 
the minister there is an essential economy 
of time and labor ; he meets all the mem- 
bers four times a year, a feat which could 
not be accomplished by pastoral visitation. 
It were imposible even to reach the resi- 
dences of more than a minority in the 
larger societies, and when these residences 
are reached it would be found that multi- 
tudes are either occupied abroad, or spe- 
cially engaged at home, having no time for 
religious intercourse. By means of the 
class, however, the preacher comes into 
contact with the bulk of the members. 
Xor is that all; the members themselves 
are thus brought together, whereby Chris- 
tian fellowship is enjoyed and permanentt 
friendships are established, so that the 
largest church in the largest city becomes 
in some measure manageable; and mem- 



CLASS-MEETINGS. 157 

bership is something more than a name, it 
is a beneficial reality. 

" The conclusion then at which we arrive 
is, that the discontinuance of the class sys- 
tem in England would be the ruin of Meth- 
odism. The leaders are to a large extent 
ministers, pastors, each presiding over a 
little church, every member of which he 
knows intimately, and from that knowledge 
is able to adapt instruction and devotion so 
as to meet the necessities of the case. As- 
suredly they that would uproot the class 
system in English Methodism are no phil- 
osophers. 

" Whatever they may affect on the seore 
of liberality, and of meeting the taste of the 
times, they are simply surrendering a 
power, the beneficial tendency and opera- 
tions of which it is scarcely possible to 
estimate. Wesley had more practical wis- 
dom than these would be reformers. The 
tendency of the age is to merge the church 
into the congregation, believers among the 

14 



158 

multitude, which is a fearful stride in the 
wrong direction. 

" What is wanted then we think, to the 
continued power of the Methodistic system, 
is not the destruction of the class-meeting 
but the improvement of it. Let every 
Leader be a man of intelligence and culti- 
vated mind, with a loving heart and over- 
flowing zeal for the salvation of men and 
the glory of God, and those classes will be- 
come more and more a power for good 
among the British people." 

This is good sense and well uttered ; I 
would that every member of our church 
would read, and well and inwardly digest 
it. Let the class-meeting in our system 
cease, the society be merged in the congre- 
gation, and our spiritual power passes 
away. I know it is difficult to secure the 
right kind of leaders. They should be 
men of intelligence, much reading, and 
deep piety; some of these we have, and 
to supply the demand we must use 
those Providentially placed in our hands 



CLASS-MEETINGS. 159 

until God raises up others; in the same 
manner that we have to take such ministers 
as the stations and circuits furnish, or 
leave the work unsupplied. We must all 
do the best we can with the instrumentali- 
ties we have. "Keep our rules and not 
mend them." 

Methodism is a child of Providence and 
still has a great vitality and power of use- 
fulness. Men most fond of changes in any 
system usually have the least piety or faith, 
and are the least useful. There is a great 
future before our church if we are true and 
faithful to our trust. This may be my 
last opportunity of saying a word to the 
people for whom I have labored all my 
life. Methodism has been and may still be 
reproached by the Godless and gay. Her 
children may join other communions, be- 
cause more fashionable and wealthy, or be- 
cause less self-denial is required, but never 
because they deem them more pious. 

For these reasons we have been filling 
other churches for the past half century. 



160 A pastor's legacy. 

Better let them go than ruin our system 
and destroy our power for good. If 
they do good anywhere else we shall not 
lose our reward from the Great Head of 
the church. 

If we are instrumental in saving souls 
and cannot retain them with us, let it not 
trouble or lead us to such changes as shall 
cripple our usefulness. A great man once 
said that " Methodism was Christianity in 
earnest." It is so now, and so should it be 
our endeavor to keep it until time shall be 
no more. 

But experience among Wesleyans in 
England and our people in this country, 
has proven that even class-meetings will not 
always preserve spirituality ; but they vastly 
aid in the retention of first love, and " the 
joy of the Lord" and should never be aban- 
doned as a means of grace among us as a 
people. Piety in the Apostolic and Wes- 
leyan sense however, may be lost, while 
using every means the church may pre- 
scribe. Forms may be preserved and held 



CLASS-MEETINGS. 161 

fast, until looked upon as true piety in- 
stead of a means leading to it. The minis- 
ter may preach and conduct divine service 
until he loses all vital faith in Christ and his 
own piety becomes altogether official. The 
same is true of leaders and constant atten- 
dants at class-meetings. Men are apt to 
hold fast to forms of worship long after the 
zeal and piety that gave rise to them have 
become extinct. This was the case with 
the Pharisees of old, but was not peculiar 
to them, it is a common failing of fallen 
humanity. You can see this in the scores 
of Romanists about you. They could not 
by any earthly motive be induced to quit 
the church, cease to cross themselves or 
pray to the Virgin ; yet many of them are 
very profane and wicked men. 

Do not suppose my dear brethren that 
ministers and official men in the house of 
God are in less danger of loss of piety than 
others. The contrary is true I am very 
certain. I am convinced after long and 
close observation that official men in the 

14* 



162 A pastor's legacy. 

church need more care and prayer to retain 
piety and a clear sense of acceptance with 
God than other professors. Long and con- 
stant use of holy truths causes them to lose 
power over the person reciting or handling 
them. Being called upon officially to engage 
in sacred duties, in all states of mind the 
demand being imperative — whether we feel 
like doing so or not, is almost sure to lessen 
their moral influence on ourselves. Then 
the danger is, that piety will become altoge- 
ther official, and much more care, watch- 
fulness, and prayer must be practiced, or 
Divine ordinances will have far less power 
on ourselves than on those who hear us. 

An example of this is witnessed in every- 
day life, where persons professionally en- 
gaged in burying the dead are from mere 
habit, generally less affected than those 
about them. 

The language of official men may glow 
with beauty and pathos on the grand theme 
of redemption and salvation, long after 
they have lost all personal interest in it. 



CLASS-MEETINGS. 163 

If this be so, and I am fully convinced of 
its truthfulness, we are in more danger than 
other churches, because our system brings 
into public use a greater number of its 
members. Local Preachers, Exhorters, 
and Class-leaders are vital parts of our 
system of doing good. And of all dan- 
gers to which the church of God is exposed, 
none are so perilous as that of Godless, 
heartless, unfeeling official men. I need 
not tell you that I have found many of 
this class of men during my ministry, and 
have found it difficult, if not almost impos- 
sible to convince them of their loss of 
spirituality. The blessed Saviour utterly 
failed to convince the Jews in his time, of 
a similar loss. 

You will naturally inquire how the fact 
can be known ? The reply is quite easy. 
Is it difficult to tell the difference between 
a mother and a nurse in their care of a 
child ? You can hear it in the tones of 
the voice, — see it in the muscles of the 
face, the expression of the eye, and the 



164 a pastor's legacy. 

emotions which it is quite impossible to 
conceal. "Out of the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaketh." I know it is 
said, " Judge not that ye be not judged," 
but it hardly needs the exercise of the judg- 
ment ; the deficiency is patent to the com- 
mon observer, but is not so easily per- 
ceived by the laborer himself. 

Yet he fills his official position, his 
teachings and exhortations are orthodox, 
and no fault can be found with his general 
morality. He may also be loud in his 
religious profession, such men often are, 
long after they have lost the power of 
piety. I once knew a man of that descrip- 
tion — one of the loudest and most noisy 
at Camp-meetings, and in time of revival. 
He passed into the spirit world before he 
was forty years of age, and on his death- 
bed he awoke to his condition, and con- 
fessed that although he had been sincere, 
for years he had been mistaken as to his 
spiritual state. For two or three days his 
grief and agony of spirit was terrible. At 



CLASS-MEETINGS. 165 

last death closed the scene, and he passed 
away without leaving any satisfactory as- 
surance to his friends that " he died in the 
Lord." 

My dear brethren in my view it is a ter- 
ribly sad thing for a man to preach about a 
Redeemer to others who does not feel that 
he is redeemed himself; to teach a faith 
that he has not within him, and to show 
from the Scriptures that men may have the 
Spirit of God to witness with their spirits 
that they are now the children of God, and 
he himself, be without such witness at the 
same time. Constant exposure to the dan- 
ger of this, lessens the sense of it, and the 
uneasiness felt at first, quietly dies away, 
and he may pass through life, like the fool- 
ish virgins, without a consciousness of his 
spiritual deficiency. The teaching of such 
is usually deficient in those elements which 
members of the church and all dying men 
most need, and at the same time so feeble 
and insipid as to be passed over by the 
hearers in silence. 



166 A pastor's legacy. 

Constant self-examination by the rules 
prescribed in the Bible, and living by rule 
as to personal and private devotion is the 
remedy for this tendency. "Examine 
yourselves whether ye be in the faith; 
prove your own selves, know ye not your 
own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you 
except ye be reprobates?" Here is an 
Apostolic specific for this constant liability 
to drift away from a spirit of warm piety. 
The word reprobate here used is explained 
by the last verse of the sixth chapter of the 
Prophecies of Jeremiah. " Reprobate sil- 
ver shall men call them, because the Lord 
hath rejected them." Its meaning is that 
silver mixed with alloy is rejected as spuri- 
ous coin, by men in all business transac- 
tions. The illustration is too clear to need 
a word of comment, — all men will see its 
meaning at once. Those who have not the 
Spirit of Christ, or in other words, those in 
whom Jesus Christ does not dwell, in the 
language of inspiration are termed repro- 
bates. They need to pass through a pro- 



CLASS-MEETINGS. 167 

cess not unlike that which is required to 
separa f e the silver from the dross. I have 
seen this done many times by personal or 
family afflictions. This is usually the Di- 
vine crucible and furnace, that purges away 
the dross. Mercies and prosperities never 
have such purifying effects. Close self- 
examination should be made daily by every 
official man in the church, and a steady 
full consecration of all to God. Then we 
can feel all the time a sense of accep- 
tance. 

The Apostle Paul says, " I keep my body 
under, lest after having preached to others, 
I myself should become a castaway" — and 
a greater than Paul has said, " If any man 
will come after me, let him deny himself, 
and take up his cross daily and follow me." 
" The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and 
the spirit against the flesh, and these two 
are contrary, the one to the other, so that 
ye cannot do the things that ye would." 
These Scriptures clearly teach the necessity 
of self-denial, and persevering personal effort 



168 A pastor's legacy. 

at all times and in all circumstances of wealth 
or poverty, in order to maintain a life of 
joyful, cheerful piety, in addition to faith- 
ful attention to all the public, social, and 
private means of grace. 

PERSONAL EFFORT. 

Every man and woman has a circle of 
friends and acquaintances. Many of these 
are out of Christ, and living in a state of 
continual rebellion against God. If they 
die as they live, what hope can you have of 
meeting them above ? If you believe the 
Bible you cannot doubt their danger. Are 
you not concerned? nay more — deeply 
interested in their behalf? If not, it is to 
be feared, that you yourself are in a back- 
slidden state. I know you cannot convert 
or change their hearts or tastes. But 
have you personally done your duty to 
them? Have you spoken of your own 
experience in Divine things in their hear- 
ing, invited them to accompany you to 
church, to class, or to prayer-meeting ? If 



HOLINESS. 169 

so, have you done it kindly and continu- 
ously? Or having done this once, have 
you turned away in disgust and given them 
up as hardened in their sins and past all 
feeling? At this hour where would you 
have been, had the blessed Spirit so treated 
you? He did not deal thus with you. 
For many years, impressions, calls, and 
precious influences attended you. At last 
your heart melted and you became a sub- 
ject of saving grace. 

Nor have you any right to give over 
laboring with any one; so long as God 
bears with him you should. While there 
is life there is hope. 

" Millions of sinners vile as he, 
Have here found life and peace." 

This language of Dr. Watts loses none 
of its truth because it is not Divine. You 
ought not willingly allow a soul to 
perish, for whom Christ died. God will 
hold each of us responsible for every one 
whom we have had the power to lead to 
Christ and neglected to use it. The very 

15 



170 A pastor's legacy. 

thought of this should make us tremble in 
view of our responsibilities. Varied are 
the methods of personal effort. You can 
appoint prayer-meetings in certain streets, 
and passing around you may invite families 
to attend them. You can keep and loan a 
few books on vital religion, calling at cer- 
tain periods and leaving others. It is an 
easy matter to distribute tracts, but it also 
should be accompanied by close conversa- 
tion, else not much good will be done ; at 
least this is the result of my observation. 
Many young men might be saved from 
drinking habits, profanity, and Sabbath- 
breaking, if you personally were to reprove, 
rebuke, and caution, with all long-suffer- 
ing and kindness. The salt of piety must 
be mixed with the mass tending to corrup- 
tion in order to savingly affect it. 

For this very purpose God has planted 
Christians in every neighbourhood. He 
allowed the first Christian church to be 
scattered for the purpose of spreading the 
blessed influences of the glorious revival 



USEFULNESS. 171 

then shaking all Jerusalem. Every one of 
God's people has a work to do. The most 
feeble and timid with but few gifts but 
abundant grace, sometimes do more than 
the gifted and popular. " God hath chosen 
the weak things of the world to confound 
the. mighty." The Methodist church 
abounds with efficient laborers ; and each 
one on uniting with it should feel that he 
has enlisted in the army to fight for the 
Lord. Nor should any one be content a 
single week in doing nothing. 

Satan and sin are always working ; liquor 
shops are ever holding out their allure- 
ments to seduce the multitudes, and there 
is a demand for the labors of the whole 
church. Your own judgment will teach 
you what to do each day. " Where there 
is a will there is a way." The language of 
Mr. Wesley to ministers is equally suitable 
to every member of the church. "Never 
be idle or unemployed, never be triflingly 
employed," never trifle away time ; neither 
spend any more time at any place than 



172 a pastor's legacy. 

is strictly necessary. Let your motto be 
holiness to the Lord. Speak evil of no 
one. Be ashamed of nothing but sin. 
Steadily watch against the world, yourself, 
— your besetting sin, deny yourself of use- 
less pleasures of sense. Endeavor to set 
God always before you ; to see his eye con- 
tinually fixed on you. Never can you act 
and live thus but that a blessing will ensue. 
The more you follow these rules the more 
you will grow in grace." So did the early 
Methodists live and labor, and this accounts 
for their wonderful success. And so must 
all good men live if they expect the favor 
of God, and to walk in the comfort of the 
Holy Ghost. It is impossible to live a life 
of faith without thus living for the glory 
of God, and keeping the flesh and its crav- 
ings subdued. God must rule and not the 
desires of the flesh, or our piety will be 
unsatisfactory even to ourselves. 



t 

i 



HOLINESS. 173 



HOLINESS IS THE GREAT NEED OF THE 
CHURCH. 

" Throughout mankind — the Christian kind at least ; 
There dwells a consciousness in every breast, 
That folly ends where genuine hope begins, 
And he that finds his heaven must lose his sins ; 
Nature opposes with her utmost force, 
This riving stroke, this ultimate divorce : 
And while religion seems to be her view, 
Hates with a deep sincerity the true ; 
For this of all that ever influenced man, 
Since Abel worshiped or the world began, 
This only spares no lust admits no plea — 
But makes him, if at all, completely free, 
Drives through the realms of sin where riot reels, 
And grinds his crown beneath her burning wheels." 

Holiness is the great purpose of all wor- 
ship. " Christ came to destroy the works 
of the Devil" both within and without us, 
heart sins as well as sins of the life. 
'• Make the tree good, and the fruit will be 
good." We as a people have suffered 
much persecution because of our testimony 
on* this subject. But the offence ceased 
when we failed to urge all who heard us to 

15 * 



174 A pastor's legacy. 

seek it. Immediate regeneration by faith, 
and the witness of it in our own souls by 
the Spirit of God, and holiness have been 
our peculiarities. They are as vital to our 
success now as ever; and must be both 
taught and enjoyed or we lose our power 
to attract the masses. Without them our 
churches may be respectable, but must be 
formal rather than pious and spiritual. 

Holiness, purity, or perfect love, all 
having nearly the same meaning, cannot 
certainly require a definition here. You as 
a people have become accustomed to hear 
these terms explained throughout your 
religious life. • You rather need to feel its 
necessity. Allow me for a few moments 
to dwell on this. You cannot be blind to 
the signs of the times, if at all acquainted 
with the annals of the church. Look at 
the history of the time, just before the re- 
vival under the Wesley s. 

Archbishop Seeker says, " That an open 
and professed disregard is become through 
a variety of unhappy causes, the distin- 



holiness. 175 

guishing character of the present age. 
Such are the dissoluteness and contempt of 
principle in the higher part of the world, 
and the profligacy, intemperance, and fear- 
lessness of committing crimes in the lower, 
as must, if this torrent of impiety stop not, 
become absolutely fatal. Christianity is 
ridiculed and railed at with very little 
reserve, and the teachers of it without any 
at all." 

Leighton speaks of the church as a " fair 
carcass without a spirit." Taylor says 
" the Anglican church was an ecclesiasti- 
cal system under which the people of Eng- 
land had lapsed into Heathenism, or a state 
hardly to be distinguished from it." " And 
that non-conformity was but little better." 
Watts declares there was a " general decay 
of vital religion in the hearts and lives of 
men, and that this was common among dis- 
senters and church men."* 

Are not the tendencies of the present 
time in the same direction ? Look at the 

* Stevens' History of Methodism. 



176 A pastor's legacy. 

terrible struggle for wealth and the means 
used for its acquisition. The little piety 
of the higher or wealthy portion of com- 
munity, and the low sports and amuse- 
ments of the laboring classes ; their drink- 
ing habits, neglect of worship, and pro- 
fanity. The vile drinking-saloons that 
disgrace every street in our large cities, all 
open on the Holy Sabbath-day. The con- 
tempt for law and order as well as religion 
and Divine worship ; the fear indicated by 
the officers of the law to attempt its correc- 
tion, lest the popular influence go against 
them. 

What is to be done ? Can you slay a 
lion with a straw ? Is the church general, 
now in a condition to successfully breast 
this tide of folly and crime ? Is it to be 
supposed that these multitudes are to be 
reached, illuminated and lifted up, from 
their sinful habits by the feeble forces now 
brought to bear on them ? "Will the read- 
ing of finely written manuscript sermons 
such as now seem to be popular, be likely 



HOLINESS. 177 

to arrest the attention of the multitude, 
and persuade them into church and out of 
their habits of crime and folly? I fear 
not. But the worst feature of the case is 
that the present body of. professing Chris- 
tians seem to desire this state of things. 
The most smoothly written sermons are 
the most praised and admired. The pulpit, 
it appears, must offer such wares as meet 
the most ready sale. At least this is the 
opinion of many. 

You will naturally ask, what is the remedy 
for all this? I would reply in the lan- 
guage of holy writ, "Holiness becometh 
thine house O Lord forever." Without 
God, I have no confidence in human effort. 
A man, be he ever so moral, virtuous, 
honest, and of good report, is a man still. 
His plans for the conversion of the world 
may be ever so perfect ; his scholastic at- 
tainments of the first order ; but I humbly 
submit he cannot awaken or convert a 
soul. This is exclusively the work of God. 



178 A pastor's legacy. 

Full success can never be ours without the 
indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 

The disciples of our Lord were good 
men. He had "chosen them out of the 
world." Had called them his friends — 
had sent them to preach and heal the sick, 
and declared he was going to prepare man- 
sions for them above. We should think 
that such good men were already prepared 
for great usefulness ; but it seems they 
were not ; for Christ especially commanded 
them that they should not depart from 
Jerusalem, but " wait for the promise of the 
Father." They were evidently not yet pre- 
pared for the great work assigned them. 
They were certainly pardoned and justified 
before this, or the Master would not have 
sent them out to preach and work miracles. 
If you think otherwise, never again find 
fault with churches for commissioning and 
ordaining unchanged, unrenewed men to 
preach the gospel. They certainly are fol- 
lowing a lofty example. 

Yet good as they were, he who knew 



HOLINESS. 179 

what fitness they needed for their work 
said, " Ye shall receive power after that the 
Holy Ghost is come upon you," intimating 
clearly that they needed something not 
then in possession. They tarried in hum- 
ble faith and hope until it came. How it 
transformed them I need not tell you. 
You are all familiar with the history. It 
was the gift of power that made them bold 
and fearless, zealous, and untiring in their 
reforming work. It sanctified them wholly, 
and gave them tongues of fire. That is 
just what the church needs now. It is 
what it must have in order to successfully 
carry forward the world's reformation. 
Our want of it is the reason for our use- 
less labor and little success in saving souls. 
Is this saying too much ? for I would not 
be deemed censorious; the facts and my 
convictions of the truth and our needs, 
compel me. Isaiah's commission when he 
was young was too heavy for him. He 
plead the excuse that the people were wicked, 
and he himself " a man of unclean lips," 



180 A pastor's legacy. 

and therefore he ought to be excused from 
such onerous duties. But after God had 
shown his own holiness and the multitude 
that were waiting about hini, to humble 
the youthful prophet; and he had sent 
a burning seraph to touch his lips and 
purge away his iniquities, he cried, " Here 
am I, send me." The case is not unlike 
that of the apostles ; both were willing and 
ready for any work however difficult, after 
they had received and felt the power of 
the fire from on high. So will each mem- 
ber of the militant church become power- 
ful, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon 
him. As a general rule, men are useful 
and love their work in proportion to their 
deep piety and holiness. The history of 
the church since the days of Barnabas fully 
sustains this remark. "He was a good 
man and full of the Holy Ghost, and much 
people were added to the Lord." His 
holiness and goodness are specially marked 
as the reason of his success. We may fill 
the church without it, and by the multi- 



HOLINESS. 181 

tudes whose minds are influenced by the 
sight of their eyes, be praised for our suc- 
cess, but we cannot keep these numbers 
there without the utter sacrifice of discipline. 
You can lead a loving heart because a 
willing mind always accompanies it, but it 
is more difficult to control the unrenewed 
and stubborn. Other churches can move 
along smoothly, with their settled pastors, 
rented seats, and greater numbers of wealthy 
communicants, without much fervent and 
deep piety, but we cannot. Our itinerant 
system of ministerial labor requires constant 
sacrifice on the part of clergy and people. The 
former especially require it, to save them 
from yielding to the temptations of ease 
and emolument. From the constant ten- 
dencies to self-seeking and vanity in the 
gifted, and discouragement, and a tendency 
to halt and give up the work to which they 
are called among those less endowed, and 
less desired by the people, though in many 
cases much more useful and laborious. 
God calls all grades of talent, and has a. 
16 



182 A pastor's legacy. 

place for each, and holy love for souls alone 
can make it pleasant and acceptable. To 
the latter, the people, holiness, deep piety, 
and love, is necessary to enable them to 
submit to the changes, the loss of pastors 
to whom they have become warmly at- 
tached, and from whom they are often 
very reluctant to be separated. The gift 
of the Holy Ghost will save all murmuring 
here. Other churches are not called to 
this, but our people are. Can you improve 
our system of itinerant labor ? If so, no 
one certainly should object. Experience, 
however, has shown that all changes are 
not improvements. It has advantages 
over a settled ministry, in that it brings 
the gospel to all men; in distributing 
talent and power of usefulness, in ease and 
pleasantness of labor that no other system 
has, or ever can equal. No sensible or ex- 
perienced man will ever dispute this, and I 
need not say to any Methodist clergyman, 
that it is easier to preach three times a day 
in as many different churches, than twice a 



HOLINESS. 183 

day in the same church. The change calls 
for different tones of voice, the eyes survey 
different and more expectant faces, — and 
there is a freshness in both speaker and 
hearer, that is almost certain to insure a 
more natural, easy, and successful sermon. 

And what is greater, it is more certain 
to secure a continuance of the original cus- 
tom of preaching without notes, our old 
and well-tried method of offering the gospel 
to the world. I fear the present habit of a 
single minister for a church for two and 
three years together, will have the effect of 
introducing the custom of reading sermons 
from manuscript. Then the warm appeals 
from the pulpit of which we have read so 
much in the history of the fathers, will of 
course cease; and our once glorious and 
effective ministration will degenerate into 
dry teaching. 

I may perhaps be deemed singular, but 
for my life I cannot help thinking there is 
a vast difference between teaching and 
preaching. To preach effectively, the eyes 



184 A pastor's legacy. 

of the preacher must meet those of his 
auditors, or the holy fervor of his soul can- 
not well be conveyed to them. How 
can this be done while his attention is 
steadily fixed upon his manuscript ? Nor 
does the necessity of the powerful influences 
of the Holy Spirit seem at the time so ab- 
solute to himself. 

But a truce to all this. Modern ideas 
will sweep on in, spite of all that I or any 
man of experience may say. Educated 
youth are wont to disregard all such sug- 
gestions from men of more experience, who 
do not happen to be blest with their scho- 
lastic advantages. 

Holiness is essential to the successful 
workings of all ecclesiastical systems, but 
more especially to ours. That was the 
point from which I diverged, allow me to 
call you back to it. Our system of class- 
meetings works well with all deeply pious 
persons. It always has and always will, 
but if deep, joyful piety becomes extinct in 
the church, no earthly power can keep them 



HOLINESS. 185 

up. You can neither find the willing 
leaders nor the attracted people. I see the 
Wesleyans have a difficulty in finding men 
to man their spiritual posts. A leader is a 
sub-pastor. His care for the members of 
his class will generally be in equal propor- 
tion to his love for the Great Master who 
has redeemed them by his blood. "When 
there is a cold heart in the member, atten- 
tion to class becomes a severe task, and a 
heavy, cheerless duty ; and where we have 
no love for anything, we soon try to do 
without it altogether. Thus we have 
reason to fear will this glorious institution 
pass into desuetude. 

This means of grace peculiar to us as a 
people, originated as a necessity of a time 
of revival. Inquirers after the way of 
salvation, and new converts inexperienced 
in Divine things, were pressing Mr. Wes- 
ley with their difficulties. He of course 
received them courteously, and counseled 
all who came as best he could. But his 
time was precious, and therefore he fixed 
16 * 



186 A pastor's legacy. 

one evening in each week for the purpose 
of receiving them all at once. This was to 
him a great saving of time, a matter of 
great importance to Mr. Wesley. When 
the numbers had so increased as to render 
it impossible for all to receive the needed 
attention in one evening, they were divided, 
and other times appointed. And when he 
was absent laboring in other places, other 
persons experienced in Divine things were 
appointed in his place. Thus originated 
Methodist class-meetings. They were a 
necessity of a time of revival, and are as 
necessary now as ever when the heart is 
truly awake to spiritual things. But dead- 
ness and spiritual sloth, hunger not for 
guidance, light, and comfort, and of course 
avoid and deem them quite unnecessary in 
the church. When this feeling of hunger 
and thirst after God ceases, with a majority 
of our people of course class-meetings will 
also pass away. No one need be surprised 
at this, for it is what all wise men know 
must occur. 



HOLINESS. 187 

In default of this we may add forms of 
worship quite beautiful and attractive; 
build beautiful churches, and continue our 
popularity with many. So that our church 
may still do good in restraining vice and 
promoting virtue in community. I am far 
from believing that even the forms of reli- 
gion are utterly useless. In this we are 
and always have been useful, and doubtless 
will be to the end of time. Mr. Wesley 
used to say, he did not fear that Methodism 
would ever cease ; but he expressed much 
apprehension lest the church would lose 
spirituality, and fail to spread Scriptural 
holiness over the earth. If this should 
occur, he prayed that God would blot out 
her name altogether. 

I cannot endorse this prayer, whatever 
changes may occur. My love for the 
church in which I have spent my entire 
life, is such, that I cannot help praying 
that she may live and exert an influence to 
the end of time. And I believe she will. 
I am full of hope for the future. Our 



188 A pastor's legacy. 

simplicity may to a certain extent pass 
away, for it has already. But we are still 
doing good ; souls are being converted and 
sanctified. " The best of all is God is with 
us," the skies are brightening. Camp- 
meetings, the old battle-grounds, which 
had nearly passed away by the growing 
worldliness of the age, are returning with 
all their pristine loveliness ; and what is 
better still, thanks be to God and the per- 
severance of a few struggling men and 
women of God, the great doctrine of holi- 
ness has been the principal theme at most 
of those held during the last few years. 
Meetings for the mutual strengthening of 
those who profess it, are being held in all 
the large towns and cities. Many minis- 
ters are preaching it as the great privilege 
of all believers, and the Press is pouring 
out works written specially to promote it 
and spread light on this great privilege of 
the people of God. Other denominations 
instead of opposing it as a heresy, as they 
did some years ago, are now preaching it, 



HOLINESS. 189 

and publishing books on the power of a 
life of faith, and the blessed privilege of 
living it and dying in its happy enjoyment. 
All evangelical communions are now feel- 
ing the mighty impulses of a higher life of 
Godliness, and bearing testimony to the 
great doctrine of holiness. There is a 
great w T ork to be done on this continent, to 
which the millions of the old world are 
now coming more rapidly than at any 
former period. They will soon cover all 
our broad prairies in the West with a teem- 
ing population. Shall they be Christian 
or heathen ? The church of God is respon- 
sible for a reply to this question. The 
colored people of the South, now strangely 
made free, are looking to the present gene- 
ration of Christians of all denominations for 
assistance, in coming up to take the place 
God has assigned them. And he seems to 
be stirring up his professing people to seek 
a higher life, and is thus preparing them 
for the work before them. 

A half-way Christianity is always weak 



190 A pastoe's legacy. 

though ever so sincere. Your own expe- 
rience has long since taught you that. God 
seems now to say to the entire church, 
" Arise — go up — and possess the land." 

" The land of rest from inbred sin, 
The land of perfect holiness." 

A revival of holiness will be certainly 
followed by a wonderful ingathering of 
souls. It has always been thus, in all ages 
of the church. What say you my dear 
brethren, are you ready to start this great 
revival, by now consecrating yourselves 
entirely to God ? declaring that from this 
hour you will live a new life — an entire 
life of faith ? This resolution taken by 
one half the members of any church, and 
followed up by openly confessing it before 
all men, even while seeking this perfect 
love, would suffice to bring on that for 
which you have so often prayed— a won- 
derful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and 
a revival that would reform the whole 
neighborhood. The delay of the church in 
rising to her privilege, retards and holds 



HOLINESS. 191 

in check, the life-giving power of the gos- 
pel in the conversion of the world. God 
has said, " Try me and prove me, and see 
if I will not pour you out such a blessing 
as there shall not be room to contain." 
It is only for us " to bring the tithes into 
his store-house." The offerings which he 
requires of self and all that belong to us, 
and the blessing is assured to us at once. 
He who doubts it doubts God's own word 
of promise ; but the offering must be com- 
plete — partial work will not do. You 
must be entirely the Lord's, and hold your- 
self there, ever subject to his will and con- 
trol, else you, for years will linger in the 
outer court, and wonder why you are not 
accepted and filled with joy, as you have 
seen others filled. 

You may say, you have some doubts as 
to this doctrine of perfect love. My reply 
is simply this ; then you are not a believer 
in the teachings of the Bible or Mr. Wes- 
ley. Holiness or the loving of God with 
all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, is 



192 A pastor's legacy. 

the central idea of all the revelations of 
God to men. And you will not dispute 
the assertion that it was taught by Mr. 
Wesley. It is quite too late to argue this 
question now, neither shall I attempt it. I 
have long since determined never to debate 
or argue this point with any person. Op- 
pose it if you please, and so teach others if 
you dare. But be sure, such a course will 
lead you into doubt and darkness, and 
greatly tend to your loss of all the consola- 
tions of religion. As it has been with 
others whom I have known so will it be 
with you. 

But you say, some ministers oppose and 
preach against it. That may be so, but I 
entreat you to mark the history of such 
men, and ask yourself if they are more self- 
denying, more humble, or more useful on 
that account. Do they " hunger and thirst 
more after righteousness?" Do they do 
more good than those who follow Mr. 
Wesley, and the fathers of our church? 
Are they better preachers, or more popular 



HOLINESS. 193 

among the people, to whom they proclaim 
the word of life? If so, I have only 
to say, that such has not been the 
result of my observation. No man is 
a Wesleyan Methodist who denies to 
the people, the privilege of being cleansed 
from all sin in this life. And no min- 
ister does his entire duty who* does not 
urge all believers to " go on unto perfec- 
tion, perfecting holiness in the fear of 
God." 

The Saviour said to certain religious 
professors, "Ye do err not knowing the 
Scriptures nor the power of God." And it 
may be that some men oppose the doctrine 
of Christian purity for the same reason. 
Those whom I have known to oppose it 
the most ardently, have usually been the 
young who rarely read the Bible with any 
care, and whose experience of the deep 
things of God has often been doubted by 
their friends, though not so clearly per- 
ceived by themselves. Their relation of 
unfriendliness to the teaching of this blessed 

17 



194 A pastor's legacy. 

and Scriptural truth however, is usually 
founded on two points ; first to its being 
called a second blessing as Mr. AVesley 
terms it, and secondly that many who pro- 
fess it are mistaken and deceived in their 
experience. They will not admit that the 
grace of holiness or perfect love is a dis- 
tinct gift except in very rare cases. Pre- 
cisely as some deny that men are pardoned 
and regenerated in a moment of time, by 
the power of grace, declaring the change to 
be by long culture and the growth of years. 
Facts nevertheless overturn both theories, 
as is well known by men of experience. 
Thousands can joyfully testify that they 
received the pardon of sin in a moment of 
time as did Saul in Damascus or the 
Philippian jailer at the hour of midnight ; 
and a multitude in all ages have been 
equally certain that they as suddenly re- 
ceived a " power from on high" that per- 
fected them in love, and cast out all their 
fears. " Perfect love casteth out fear." I 
cannot see why the testimony of the one 



HOLINESS. 195 

should be received as true, and that of the 
other rejected as false. The one encour- 
aged to hold " fast his profession without 
wavering," and the other condemned as an 
enthusiast, who is mistaken in his faith 
and feeling. The exhortation of the Apos- 
tle, " let us go on to perfection" is certainly 
addressed to regenerate persons ; and if the 
perfection recommended was to be enjoyed 
in this life ; if we are to expect it at all, 
why not now? "Whatsoever ye desire 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive it and 
ye shall have it." 

I am the last one to contend for mere 
terms. Holiness or being made perfect in 
love, has been termed by some " the second 
blessing." Are they right or are they 
wrong? All I contend for, is the grace 
itself, not the name you give it. If, how- 
ever, the disciples were in a gracious state, 
pardoned and accepted when our Lord 
addressed them as in the fourteenth and 
fifteenth of St. John, I contend that the 
gift of power on the day of Pentecost was 



196 A pastor's legacy. 

a second blessing to them, and those who 
use the phrase now in relation to a similar 
gift of power, but in a lower sense, are not 
very far from being correct in the use of 
terms. It was a second blessing to the 
Apostles, and they were taught by the Sa- 
viour that it was essential to their success, 
and they were interdicted from entering 
upon their great work until they received 
it. What can the objector say to destroy 
the force of this fact ? What a lesson to 
all men who are about to enter upon the 
work of the gospel ministry! If it re- 
moves all fear, and transforms us now as it 
did then, all God's ministers should have 
it at once. Peter, the chief speaker among 
them, was timid and vacillating before, but 
bold, fearless, and firm after the Holy 
Ghost came upon him. How this fact 
should cause us to hunger for a similar 
gift. 

And as to the other objection, suppose some 
who profess it are mistaken in their expe- 
rience, and really have not received this 



HOLINESS. 197 

great grace ? What evil has it done them ? 
Are they less devoted ? less prayerful ? or 
less watchful against temptation and all 
sin? Exactly the reverse of this is the 
truth in all cases, as far as my experience 
has gone. The fact that they profess per- 
fect love puts them under a necessity to 
watch and pray the more, and be ever 
guarding against the indulgence of any 
hasty word or temper which might bring 
darkness, doubt, or condemnation. If this 
be so, and I know it is in many cases, 
then he who opposes this blessed doctrine 
of holiness, or hinders men from seeking 
it, is opposing all deep piety and purity of 
life. No true follower of Mr. Wesley is 
ever guilty of such folly and sin. That 
great and good man in a letter to Dr. Clark 
says ; " If we can prove that any of our 
local preachers or leaders either directly or 
indirectly speak against it, let him be a 
local preacher or leader no longer. I 
doubt whether he should continue in the 
society ; because he that could speak thus 
17 * 



198 A pastor's legacy. 

in our congregations cannot be an honest 
man." Let no minister or layman dare to 
teach in opposition to Mr. Wesley, and yet 
allow himself to be called a Methodist. 
Only let a suspicion of unsoundness in the 
faith of the church of which you are a 
member, be circulated among the people 
and your usefulness ends at once. No one 
may fully know on what point you differ 
from the received opinions of the denomi- 
nation. And you may be prudent and 
quiet yourself. Yet the common sentiment 
prevailing that you are unsound will suffice 
to make your way hard, and destroy to a 
great extent your power to do good. It is 
not only so with us, but the same is true 
in all orthodox denominations. And to 
lose the power to do good, to lose influence 
among our associates in the house and 
family of God, is indeed a great loss. I 
cannot too strongly guard you against 
this. 

It is neither honest nor honorable. If 
any one has come to doubt the doctrines of 



HOLINESS. 199 

the church of which he is a minister or 
member, his true and honorable course is 
to retire from his position and unite with 
some other people with whom in his reli- 
gious opinions he can agree. In an itin- 
eracy like ours, the ministry at least should 
be a unit, or our changes will cause dif- 
ferent doctrines to be preached from the 
same pulpit. Then confusion must indeed 
follow. 

Remember however, that there is a great 
difference between not preaching holiness and 
preaching against it. The former may not 
have seen his duty, not examined the ques- 
tion, but follows the best examples he has 
had. But the latter has given it attention 
and thus decided on his course. Of this 
latter class I have just been speaking. 

But the light is breaking — the work of 
salvation in its joyfulness is spreading 
through the church. It is high time for 
all to awake out of sleep. The signs of the 
times are cheering, and the friends of Jesus 
are hopeful. God is pouring out on his 



200 a pastor's legacy. 

church the " Spirit of grace and supplica- 
cation ;" the enemies and doubters of this 
Scriptural and glorious doctrine of perfect 
love, of entire holiness, will soon be so few 
and feeble as to cause a cessation of all 
cavil. The friends of Jesus in all the 
evangelical churches will soon see eye to 
eve. So Herculean is the work before the 
church that it would discourage the half- 
hearted. There is no time for trifling and 
disputing about terms. The battle with 
the powers of sin, ignorance, and the love 
of this vain world is becoming fierce. The 
weak members of Christ's mystical body, 
"should be as David, and the stronger 
ones as the angel of the Lord." There has 
been a long night of disputation on theolo- 
gical terms and church usages. It is high 
time that all this should cease. The time 
for work has come; let controversy pass 
away. No sane man will deny but that 
holy men and women have more power 
both with God and men, than those whose 
piety is superficial. The most wealthy and 



HOLINESS AND USEFULNESS. 201 

most thoroughly educated person in any 
community were he drawing nigh to the 
spirit world, would prefer to have the 
prayer of some humble slave in whom he 
had confidence, rather than the reading of 
a mitred bishop whose piety he doubted. 

Holiuess is an inward prompter to pious 
utterances. The sanctified have something 
whereof to speak. They feel the Divine 
fire within, and therefore "speak with 
their lips." While such as feel condemned 
for short-comings, for not living fully in 
the light of God, are usually silent, unless 
they are required to speak through the 
holding of an official position in the church. 
" Out of the abundance of the heart, the 
mouth speaketh." The fearful and doubt- 
ing never do much good in any cause. 

He whose heart is full of faith and con- 
fidence in God, rarely labors in vain. . 

The demands of the present age are so 
pressing ; all things seem to catch the mo- 
tion of the steam-car. Old ideas are 
rapidly passing away, and new ones taking 



202 A pastor's legacy. 

their places. The church of God should 
be fully awake to her responsibilities and 
her dangers. Her members may not now 
slumber away their lives in careless indif- 
ference, as has been the case for many 
years. They live in a very different period 
from that of their fathers. All men will 
be judged by the light and opportunities 
of their condition. Zealous labor for the 
salvation of souls, leading men to the 
house of God, gathering the children into 
the Sabbath-schools, reproving Sabbath- 
desecration and profanity, and all the vices 
of the times are required of the church. 
It can neither be " the light of the world," 
nor " the salt of the earth" without doing 
all this. 

There is work enough to give exercise to 
all the talent in the church ; and if all feel 
the mighty impulse of the present demand, 
there are men and women enough to 
supply it. This is doubtless ample, 
if the Holy Ghost falls on God's pro- 
fessing people, as the promise leads us 



CONCLUSION. 203 

to expect it will. Deep and fervent piety, 
such as characterized the first Christian 
church, is the present want of God's pro- 
fessing people. 

CONCLUSION. 

" The vineyard of the Lord 
Before his laborers lies, 
And lo we see the vast reward 
That waits us in the skies." 

What I have contemplated doing for 
some years past is now done. The three 
classes addressed in the several chapters of 
this book, comprehend all those for whose 
benefit I have labored, and spent the whole 
of my active life. With what success will 
only be known when the secrets of all 
hearts shall be revealed. I have reached 
that period of life, when the " almond tree 
flourisheth, and those that look out of the 
windows be darkened." The evening of 
life is a time for calm review of all the 
scenes and stirring events that have now 
passed away. To me the past is not 



204 A pastor's legacy. 

unpleasant to look upon, but is rather 
filled with pleasant reminiscences of occur- 
rences that it would please me greatly to 
see repeated. The remembrance of them 
even now fills my soul with joy, and gives 
life and cheerfulness to many an hour that 
might be otherwise sad and gloomy. The 
present is happy and very cheerful, and 
the future is not afflicted with a single 
shadow to distress my mind, or create 
gloom and sadness. 

" The promised land from Pisgah's top 
I now exult to see, 
M$ hope is full, glorious hope 
Of Immortality." 

In my early ministry when our circuits 
extended over two hundred miles, and we 
were required to preach twenty-five or 
thirty times every month, and to lead 
nearly as many classes, I never found the 
work too hard. On the contrary it was 
always delightful. The scenery, of moun- 
tains and valleys, the mossy rocks and roll- 
ing rivers, the crowded school-houses and 



CONCLUSION. 205 

private dwellings, all united to give variety 
and interest to the work. 

The uniform kindness of the people, and 
the joyful shaking of hands that occurred 
on meeting, after an absence of a month 
gave a freshness and delight, as it occurred 
nearly every day. When the heart is in it, 
all labor is pleasant. 

" Labor is rest and pain is sweet, 
If thou my God art there." 

At least I have always found it to be so. 
But few men in any profession have 
lived a more happy life than myself. I 
speak it to the praise of God, and for the 
encouragement of my younger brethren in 
the ministry of reconciliation. I first sought 
the kingdom of God, and all other needful 
things have been added as the Saviour pro- 
mised. Some men may believe in gospel 
promises, but by happy experience I know 
and have proved them to be true. " More 
are they to be desired than gold, yea than 
much fine gold : sweeter also than honey 
and the honey comb." 

18 



206 

The reader will perceive, all through 
this book, that I believe in a joyful piety 
— indeed I could not be content with any 
other. I have no faith in complaining 
fault-finders. I deem them neither the 
right sort of Christians, nor good philoso- 
phers. " Why should a living man com- 
plain?" David was always singing, and 
St. Paul " gloried in tribulations also." A 
sorrowful, low-spirited believer, will make 
no proselytes, he shames his religion, and 
hinders the work of God. The blessed 
Saviour said to his disciples, " Hitherto ye 
have asked nothing, ask that your joy may 
be full." The real cause of most of the 
low-spirits and sadness, so often seen among 
professing Christians is — " they receive not 
because they ask not." "They ask and 
receive not, because they ask amiss." The 
heart is not fully given to God, the life and 
labor not sufficiently consecrated to his will 
and work. I once heard the patriarchal 
Henry Boehm, after he was over eighty 
years of age, say that he had spent his life 



CONCLUSION. 207 

in the work of the itinerant ministry, yet 
if he had his life to live again, such was his 
love for the work, that he would do noth- 
ing else. I have heard many others, when 
drawing near the close of life say the 
same. Thus expressing my sentiments and 
feelings precisely. What are wealth, honor, 
and the praise of men, or a life of ease and 
luxury — all so soon to pass away, compared 
to a life of useful toil for the moral benefit 
of others? "Surely men of low degree 
are vanity, and men of high degree are a 
lie : to be laid in a balance, they are alto- 
gether lighter than vanity." To him who 
looks at things not seen, and is acted upon 
by high moral considerations, they have 
not the weight of a feather. "What is 
man whose breath is in his nostrils ?" and 
who disappears in a few short years, leav- 
ing all his vast accumulations to ruin or 
mislead those who come after him. Moses 
was wiser than most men in modern times, 
for " he chose to suffer affliction with the 
people of God, rather than to enjoy the 



208 A pastor's legacy. 

pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the 
reproach of Christ greater riches than the 
treasures in Egypt." And why — " because 
he had respect to the recompense of the 
reward." 

There is a luxury in doing good, in 
laboring for the moral benefit of others, to 
lessen their woes and increase their com- 
forts, that mere worldlings never taste. 
The very feeling of sympathy, in the joys and 
sorrows of those about us, pays better than 
the empty honors and troublesome wealth 
of this world, now so much sought by the 
many. There is even a luxury in tears of 
sympathy and deep feeling. The true man 
of God sheds many of these in the course 
of his life. The grandeur of the cross and 
system of redeeming mercy, cannot well 
be looked into by the good man, with dry 
eyes. I wonder not that St. Paul ex- 
claimed, " God forbid that I should glory 
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by which the world is crucified unto me and 
I unto the world." 



CONCLUSION. 209 

I know that many nominal Christians, 
men who have the fear of God, but feel little 
of the power of Godliness, will call this, 
cant and fanaticism. But I know equally 
well, that it was this holy enthusiasm — this 
power from on high acting on the souls of 
both the ministers and members of the 
Apostolic church, which caused great fear 
to come on the multitude, and was really 
the source of their success. It was the 
power of all the early Methodist preachers 
both in Europe, and in America. All those 
who are acquainted with the deep things 
of God, and whose piety is not mere surface 
work, will appreciate the truth of these re- 
marks. This feeling, firing their souls, 
made the rough circuits traveled by the 
fathers, like garden spots. It gives a charm 
to all that a man does. 

With this holy feeling, no man need 
locate because of want of support for his 
family •, he will always be taken care of by 
the people, for they are sure to love him 
most warmly. It cannot be otherwise 
18 * 



210 a pastor's legacy. 

even among savages, for humanity is the 
same everywhere, and in all time. I know 
that this remark will be scorned by some, 
and made a jest of by others, but I am cer- 
tain it is nevertheless true. And as to the 
future, in its hopes and expectations there 
can be nothing to fear. Who, now that 
their histories are written, would not prefer 
the fame of Luther to that of Charles the 
Fifth, who summoned him to the Diet of 
Worms ? Who would not choose the name 
and fame of the laborious and useful John 
Wesley, rather than that of Lord Welling- 
ton the hero of Waterloo ? Both are now 
in the spirit land where each will receive 
his reward. 

However singular it may appear to some, 
I cannot avoid preferring the life and labors, 
and the triumphant death of the former, 
with his hopes of the future, rather than 
those of the latter. Mr. Wesley was poor 
to the last, but it was his choice. When 
an officer of the excise required him to 
render an account of his silver plate for 



CONCLUSION. 211 

taxation, his reply was characteristic of the 
man. 

"Sir, I have two silver tea-spoons at 
London, and two at Bristol. This is all 
the plate which I have at present, and I 
shall not buy any more while so many 
around me want bread." 

Such deadness to the world, such utter 
forgetfulness of self for the good of others, 
may be rare, but it is certainly Apostolic. 
Let me die like such men, feeling the in- 
spiration of their immortal hopes, rather 
than take the honors, and die as most world- 
lings do. 

" They that turn many to righteousness, 
shall shine as the stars forever and ever." 
That is more than is said of men of dis- 
tinction in other callings. 

" Laurels may flourish round the conqueror's tomb, 
But happiest they who win a life to come, 
Eternal triumphs crown their toil Divine, 
And all these triumphs, Christian, shall he thine." 



